When I’m looking for inspiration or for
reassurance that what I’m experiencing is something my favorites have
successfully dealt with or just for comfort, I turn to quotes from writers.
I’ve been collecting such quotes since I was in my teens. The handwritten
journals I’ve kept since my early twenties that fill three entire bookshelves
at my house are larded with things writers have said that I’ve found pithy or
useful and recorded. Here are some of my favorites.
"The work is greater than my
fear."--Audre Lorde
"Write about the things that get under
your skin and keep you up at night." --Khaled Houssani
“There are no rules except those you create
page by page.”
--Stuart Wood
“You see, paper is magic: Making
marks on it changes your brain. So, don't sit around trying to think your way
out of problems, write your way out of them. The best place to find answers is
on a piece of paper or a glowing phosphorus screen.”--Scott Westerfeld
“I
think it’s important as a creative person not to give other people the right to
be disappointed in you.” – novelist/photographer Teju Cole
"Force yourself to generate dozens of
ideas. Try to set aside 20 minutes a day just for brainstorming." --AJ
Jacobs
"I do pushups and sit ups all the
time." --Kurt Vonnegut
"Writer’s block is having too much
time on your hands. If you have a limited amount of time to write, you just sit
down and do it. You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a
bad page. You can’t edit a blank page." --Jodi Picoult
"Turn off your cell phone. Honestly,
if you want to get work done, you’ve got to learn to unplug. No texting, no
email, no Facebook, no Instagram." --Nathan Englander
And from the inimitable Stephen King, just
a few of the pages of writing quotes I have:
“The scariest moment is always just
before you start.”
“The road to hell is paved with
adverbs.”
“To write is human, to edit is divine.”
“Amateurs sit and wait for
inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
“Just remember that Dumbo didn't need
the feather; the magic was in him. ”
“If you don't have time to read, you
don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
Do you turn to quotes from other writers for inspiration or
comfort in your writer’s journey? What are some of your favorite writer’s
quotes?
Great thoughts from great writers. Thanks for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteI read Stephen King's book On Writing and loved it. He has such an amazing command of the language and of course his writing shows it. There were many events in his life that were monumental. He didn't like Carrie even though it was his first big hit. He didn't like his main character--she was evil. So that shatters some falsehoods, but then Carrie wasn't a series. He went through his addictions and lived. He survived being hit by a car. He's lived a full like and found fodder for his fiction. Christine still gives me chills. He's so good at his craft, I can't read him anymore. How's that for irony!
ReplyDeleteI don't refer to quotes as inspiration, but whenever I run across them, such as in your blog, I pause and reflect on their meaning as it relates to my current self.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I measure up well; other times I am prodded to improve.
~ Jim
Saw this the other day: "If you hear voices in your head, they call you insane. If you write down what the voices say, they call you an author."
ReplyDeleteWrite no matter how crappy it sounds. You can edit crap; you can't edit nothing.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your quotes, Linda, so I thought I'd look up some others. Following is another by Kurt Vonnegut:
ReplyDeleteFind a subject you care about and which in your heart you feel others should care about. It is the genuine caring and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.
Thank you sharing those quotes, Linda. Here is another inspirational one: "Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good." - William Faulkner
ReplyDeleteKM, glad you enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteEB, I suspect, for all the disdain of the literati, the best of King's books will be read long after most of theirs are consigned to relative oblivion. Some of his short stories are the very best of the 20th century.
Jim, I make the same assessment, and when I find sometimes that I don't do well on it, I resolve to make changes so that I will. Always easier said than done.
Good ones, Frank and Warren!
ReplyDeleteAnd Gloria, I love your Kurt vonnegut quote.
Above all, Kara's Faulkner quote! Yes!
For a long time, I've had the following F. Scott Fitzgerald quote on my desk: “You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”
ReplyDeleteI also have a frame with the English translation of the Kansas state motto in it, as I think it appeals to the writer's journey: "Through difficulties to the stars."
Both excellent quotes, Sarah! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I love that state motto. Much more inspiring, positive, and universally applicable than Virginia's "Thus Always to Tyrants" -
ReplyDeleteSo glad there are so many Stephen King fans here. I do think he's been looked down on by so many, and I can't understand it. The man writes like a dream.
Thank you for all the inspiration, Linda!
Shari, it's a reflex action on the part of a lot, though not all, literary writers. Literary writing is actually a genre with its own conventions and expectations, just as much as crime fiction or science fiction or romance. They just don't want to admit it. (Theirs are stricter and more constraining than crime fiction's are by a long shot.)
ReplyDelete