I’ve always said that — if you want to be a writer — you must write the book that you feel is missing from the world. You must write the book that fills in that spot on the bookshelf that somehow feels empty to you. You must write the book that you yourself would love to read.
Similarly, if you are an artist, you must paint the picture you would like to see.
You must write the song you would like to hear.
You must build the house you would like to live in.
You take nothing, and you turn it into something: That’s creativity.
But maybe it’s like that with everything in life — not just the arts. Maybe the arts are just the most literal definition of taking nothing and making it into something. Maybe in all realms of life, you must somehow figure out how to create the things that are missing from you.
– Elizabeth Gilbert