--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I can't make something 'useful' to me in…" description: "\"I can't make something 'useful' to me in a writing sense for a very long time. I don't have any journalistic instinct. And I do keep a journal, but it'..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/tim-winton-3739_bubbles_i-can-t-make-something-useful-to-me-in-a_2181495.png" --- # I can't make something 'useful' to me in a writing sense… ![“I can't make something 'useful' to me in a writing sense for a very long time. I don't have any journalistic instinct. And I do keep a journal, but it's neither very revealing nor fruitful for work. Stuff just bubbles up from the swamp later.” quote by Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/tim-winton-3739_bubbles_i-can-t-make-something-useful-to-me-in-a_2181495.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/tim-winton-3739_bubbles_i-can-t-make-something-useful-to-me-in-a_2181495.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec4/tim-winton-3739_bubbles_i-can-t-make-something-useful-to-me-in-a_2181495.png) > “I can't make something 'useful' to me in a writing sense for a very long time. I don't have any journalistic instinct. And I do keep a journal, but it's neither very revealing nor fruitful for work. Stuff just bubbles up from the swamp later.” [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author feels unable to produce useful written work and lacks a journalistic instinct, despite keeping a journal that yields little insight. **In simple terms:** Struggles with writing usefulness and instinct. Key Takeaway Accept that creative output may be indirect. Themes creativity self‑doubt writing Mood frustrated reflective Type personal advice When to use this quote - personal writing - creative blocks - journaling practice Key Concepts self‑reflection process journaling Questions to Reflect On - How can you reshape your journal to spark insight? - What non‑writing activities could inform your writing? A Different Perspective Writing usefulness may not be immediate; patience needed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bubbles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bubbles/) [I can](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-can/) [Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinct/) [Journal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journal/) [Journalistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journalistic/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-time/) [Revealing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revealing/) [Stuff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stuff/) [Swamps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/swamps/) [Useful Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/useful-writing-4714015/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing Sense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-sense-3604190/) ## Related quotes > [Work extra hard on the beginning of your story, so it snares reader's instantly. 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Unlike the ‘I’ of autobiography, who is meant to be seen as a representation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-malcolm/the-i-character-in-journalism-is-almost-pure-invention-unlike-the-i/) [Janet Malcolm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-malcolm/) > [“The provision of news and information, for example, has been ‘dumbed down’ to a previously unimaginable degree, and the line between Hollywood fiction and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-mclaughlin/the-provision-of-news-and-information-for-example-has-been-dumbed/) [Paul McLaughlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-mclaughlin/) > [I think it's very healthy to use journalistic and legal techniques to investigate the evidence for and against Christianity and other faith systems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-strobel/i-think-it-s-very-healthy-to-use-journalistic-and-legal-techniques-to/) [Lee Strobel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-strobel/) > [I have been a sports fan my whole life. To be able to talk about sports in an intelligent, journalistic fashion and to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-gumbel/i-have-been-a-sports-fan-my-whole-life-to-be-able-to-talk-about/) [Bryant Gumbel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-gumbel/) > [I am an emotional and fragile person. I observe life, I am perceptive and can read a person's body language. I have a strong…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madhur-bhandarkar/i-am-an-emotional-and-fragile-person-i-observe-life-i-am-perceptive/) [Madhur Bhandarkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madhur-bhandarkar/) > [The biggest journalistic game-changer of our time has been the rise of social media and the overgrowth of faux news sources - league- and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lipsyte/the-biggest-journalistic-game-changer-of-our-time-has-been-the-rise/) [Robert Lipsyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lipsyte/) > [There's a whole journalistic-industrial complex dedicated to keeping newsprint, TV screens and radio waves clean of destabilizing scoops damaging to corporations or the state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-cockburn/there-s-a-whole-journalistic-industrial-complex-dedicated-to-keeping/) [Alexander Cockburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-cockburn/) > [“He cannot deny a certain relief in being able to sift through academic tomes, fulfilling his journalistic duty without having to barge past security…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-rachman/he-cannot-deny-a-certain-relief-in-being-able-to-sift-through/) [Tom Rachman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-rachman/) > [It goes to show you how we in the press so often miss the big stories that are right under our noses. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/it-goes-to-show-you-how-we-in-the-press-so-often-miss-the-big-stories/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) ## More by Tim Winton > [Wherever I went I felt like the last person awake in a room full of sleepers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/wherever-i-went-i-felt-like-the-last-person-awake-in-a-room-full-of/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [“Where I had expected to appreciate the monuments and love the natural environment, the reality was entirely the reverse. The immense beauty of many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/where-i-had-expected-to-appreciate-the-monuments-and-love-the-natural/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [I've been a writer and a parent since adolescence, it feels like, and I'm still making both gigs up as I go along. 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I wonder what the ordinary people are doin today.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/shit-he-said-as-a-great-green-glut-of-water-poured-up-at-our-feet-i/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [“Keep the day ahead of you, that's what the old man used to say.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/keep-the-day-ahead-of-you-that-s-what-the-old-man-used-to-say/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [I guess it must be a time-of-life thing, looking back and trying to make some sense of who I am and where I've been.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/i-guess-it-must-be-a-time-of-life-thing-looking-back-and-trying-to/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [Will you look at us by the river! The whole restless mob of us on spread blankets in the dreamy briny sunshine skylarking and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/will-you-look-at-us-by-the-river-the-whole-restless-mob-of-us-on/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [The night is full of stories. They float up like miasmas, as though the dead leave their dreams in the earth where you bury…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/the-night-is-full-of-stories-they-float-up-like-miasmas-as-though-the/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [I grew up in a whaling town. We didn't stop whaling in Australia until 1978. And I've always lived in fishing communities. You could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/i-grew-up-in-a-whaling-town-we-didn-t-stop-whaling-in-australia-until/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [There is nowhere else I'd rather be, nothing else I would prefer to be doing. I am at the beach looking west with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/there-is-nowhere-else-i-d-rather-be-nothing-else-i-would-prefer-to-be/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) > [“Rare as rocking-horse turds, these days, feeling halfway to decent, with barely a sick twinge, and he was damned if he’d waste”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-winton/rare-as-rocking-horse-turds-these-days-feeling-halfway-to-decent-with/) [Tim Winton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) [Explore all 122 Tim Winton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-winton/) ## More Bubbles quotes > [Medicine is magical and magical is art, the boy in the bubble, and the baby with the baboon heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-simon/medicine-is-magical-and-magical-is-art-the-boy-in-the-bubble-and-the/) [Paul Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-simon/) > [What I do, the teacher of the nagual, is open up the bubble of your luminosity and allow the luminous being to take short…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/what-i-do-the-teacher-of-the-nagual-is-open-up-the-bubble-of-your/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [When (the Reds) won, we loved it because we ran into the locker room and touched all the bats and gloves and got some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-griffey-jr-2/when-the-reds-won-we-loved-it-because-we-ran-into-the-locker-room-and/) [Ken Griffey, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-griffey-jr-2/) > [If I had my way, I would build a lethal chamber as big as the Crystal Palace, with a military band playing softly, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/if-i-had-my-way-i-would-build-a-lethal-chamber-as-big-as-the-crystal/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [“Forget your troubles! Try these bubbles! You can’t say nope to extraordinary soap!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amber-mcree-turner/forget-your-troubles-try-these-bubbles-you-can-t-say-nope-to/) [Amber McRee Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amber-mcree-turner/) > [In 1985, the top five percent of the households - the wealthiest five percent - had net worth of $8 trillion - which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-stockman/in-1985-the-top-five-percent-of-the-households-the-wealthiest-five/) [David Stockman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-stockman/) > [Oh honey, You're thirteen. You should be blowing bubbles, not guys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author-name/oh-honey-you-re-thirteen-you-should-be-blowing-bubbles-not-guys/) [Author Name](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/author-name/) > [I think we have a bubble in the US in government bonds, because of the quantitative easing and the negative real interest rates, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-thiel/i-think-we-have-a-bubble-in-the-us-in-government-bonds-because-of-the/) [Peter Thiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-thiel/) > [This tennis world, this tennis community, is very much a bubble, and it's very easy to get lost in here. You know, there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johanna-konta/this-tennis-world-this-tennis-community-is-very-much-a-bubble-and-it/) [Johanna Konta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johanna-konta/) > [We thought we completely understood bubbles when we were kids. But we didn't. Bubbles are these amazing things. It's just that people aren't paying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-noddy/we-thought-we-completely-understood-bubbles-when-we-were-kids-but-we/) [Tom Noddy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-noddy/) > [Titles are tinsel, power a corrupter, glorya bubble, and excessive wealth a libel on its possessor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/titles-are-tinsel-power-a-corrupter-glorya-bubble-and-excessive/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [I don't even know what that means. People who get credit have to get it from somewhere. Does a credit bubble mean that people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-fama/i-don-t-even-know-what-that-means-people-who-get-credit-have-to-get/) [Eugene Fama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-fama/) > [And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. 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Merrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-l-merrow/) [Browse all 821 Bubbles quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bubbles/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I can't make something 'useful' to me in a writing sense for a very long time. I don't have any journalistic instinct. And I do keep a journal, but it's neither very revealing nor fruitful for work. 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