"No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself." -- Virginia Woolf
When I read this quote I felt my shoulders drop and a big smile spread across my face.
No need to hurry. This is excellent advice to balance with Dorothy Parker's: 'Writing is the art of applying the ass to the seat." And with all advice that, if you really want to do something you can't sit at home dreaming you have to get out there and do it. Now, I'm a great believer in taking action. But sometimes I push and strive when what's really needed is a little rest and relaxation, a little time to let thoughts percolate, to let the fruit of a beautiful story ripen on the tree before being picked.
No need to sparkle. When you write/act/paint/sing... you don't add metaphorical glitter and bows in order to shine because you think what you're doing isn't enough. Firstly because you'll exhaust yourself and burn out, you'll lose all the joy and juice of it. Secondly because it won't feel real and true anymore, and then you're lost. People fall in love with something when the heart that created it resonates with their own. You don't need to dress up your heart.
No need to be anybody but yourself. It doesn't matter than you're not Shakespeare or, indeed, Virginia Woolf. Your only job -- your mission, should you choose to accept it -- is to express yourself, all those beautiful idiosyncrasies that make you purely you. This is all you can do. Trust that this is enough.