THE TENANTS: A Motivating Novel and Film for Writers

Here's IMDb's plot summary for The Tenants (2005) : 

In an abandoned tenement, an African-American militant writer [Willie Spearmint (Snoop Dogg)] and a Jewish novelist [Harry Lesser (Dylan McDermott)] develop a friendship while struggling to complete their novels, but inner tension rises between the two.

In the film, which is based on Bernard Malamud's novel of the same title, Willie confessed to Lesser, "Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke." And in terms of the life of a writer, Willie said, "Baby, it's a long, hard, lonely life."

Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist and essayist, agreed with Willie when he reportedly said:

You must have discipline for writing. It is not an easy task. It is very lonely. You're all alone. You are not in company [...] You are delving into your depths, but you are profoundly lonely. It is one of the loneliest careers in the world [...] In writing, you are alone. That takes a lot of strength and a lot of will to do it.

If you're a writer and you're having trouble staying motivated and focused. And you don't know how to handle being constantly interrupted by selfish people who don't take your writing seriously, then The Tenants may be the novel and film for you, because Willie and Lesser are two writers who take their writing extremely seriously

The Writer: "A Long, Hard, Lonely Life"?

In the film The Tenants (2005), which is based on Bernard Malamud's novel, Willie Spearmint confessed to Harry Lesser, "Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke." "Baby, it's a long, hard, lonely life."

And Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist and essayist, agreed with Willie when he reportedly said:

You must have discipline for writing. It is not an easy task. It is very lonely. You're all alone. You are not in company [...] You are delving into your depths, but you are profoundly lonely. It is one of the loneliest careers in the world [...] In writing, you are alone. That takes a lot of strength and a lot of will to do it.

Best Books About Writers

This excerpt from Katy Waldman's New Yorker review of Andrew Martin's Early Work confirmed one of my concerns about white people who listen to hardcore rap:

"Yeah, I'm pretty into monotonous drug rap right now," she said. "I mean, like everybody. I guess it's the usual racist thing, where white people like it because it takes their worst suspicions about minorities and confirms them in lurid and entertaining ways?"

However, while reading the novel, I found the references to writing, novelists, poets, books, and publishing intriguing, which reminded me that the best books and films about writers/artists are the ones that depicts the writers writing. (Interestingly, Early Work's narrator opined that Balthus' perverted paintings of girls and cats are "wonderful".)

Unlike Olivier Assayas' Something in the Air (2012) and Personal Shopper (2016), I was disappointed with Non-Fiction (2018) [French: Doubles vies] because, although the dialogue about writing and publishing was extremely interesting, the writer wasn't shown honing his craft - not one time.

For the record, our top three books and films about writers/artists are:

Books
The Tenants Bernard Malamud
Transparent Things Vladimir Nabokov
Look at the Harlequins Vladimir Nabokov

Films
The Tenants (2005)
Something in the Air (2012) 
Personal Shopper (2016)