Lit Hub has a transcript of Kelly Link’s speech at the 2019 One Story Literary Debutante Ball.

“When I realized I would have to say something here other than, “Yes, I’d love another drink, thank you!” I tried to figure out what I could say that would be helpful to debut authors. I came up with a short list.

The first is this. Writing is terrible. Because it is terrible, it is appropriate to complain about it. It is enjoyable to complain about it. Complaining about writing is writing adjacent and therefore entirely professional. It eats up time in which you might otherwise be expected to do more writing.”