Naturally, you don't sit down in "white hot inspiration" and write with a burning flame in front of you. But since I knew I could never be happy being anything but a writer, and Mockingbird put itself together for me so accommodatingly, I kept at it because I knew it had to be my first novel, for better or for worse.
![Naturally, you don't sit down in white hot inspiration and write with a burning flame in front of you. But since I knew I could never be happy being anything but a writer, and Mockingbird put itself together for me so](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/harper-lee/naturally-you-dont-sit-down-in-white-hot-inspiration-and-write-with-a-burning-flame-in-front-of-you-but.jpg)