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Blog Archive
Quotes of Inspiration
I find writing inspiration from as many sources as possible. I read to inspire my muse. I watch movies to foster ideas in my imagination. I listen to conversations to perfect dialogue. I practice writing from prompt exercises. But one of my favorite past times is reading famous writer’s quotes. It’s a great source of inspiration, and influence to read the thoughts of those who share our passion. Today I’m sharing a few of my favorite quotes. I hope they spark an understanding and a renewed commitment to your work.
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.
Isaac Asimov
Practice, practice, practice writing. Writing is a craft that requires both talent and acquired skills. You learn by doing, by making mistakes and then seeing where you went wrong.
Jeffrey A. Carver
Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.
Winston Churchill
If there is a special Hell for writers it would be in the forced contemplation of their own works.
John Dos Passos
In going where you have to go, and doing what you have to do, and seeing what you have to see, you dull and blunt the instrument you write with. But I would rather have it bent and dull and know I had to put it on the grindstone again and hammer it into shape and put a whetstone to it, and know I had something to write about, than to have it bright and shining and nothing to say, or smooth and well-oiled in the closet, but unused."
Ernest Hemingway
Keep in mind that the person to write for is yourself. Tell the story that you most desperately want to read.
Susan Isaacs
I see the notion of talent as quite irrelevant. I see instead perseverance, application, industry, assiduity, will, will, will, desire, desire, desire.
Gordon Lish
Recollection is the only paradise from which we cannot be turned out.
Jean Paul Richter
But words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
Lord Byron
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.
Mark Twain
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.
William Wordsworth
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
Robert Frost
If the sex scene doesn't make you want to do it - whatever it is they're doing – it hasn’t been written well.
Sloan Wilson
Usually, when people get to the end of a chapter, they close the book and go to sleep. I deliberately write my books so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she must turn one more page. When people tell me I've kept them up all night, I feel like I've succeeded!
Sidney Sheldon
Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor.
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Never let inexperience get in the way of ambition.
Terry Josephson
I am a part of all I have read.
John Kieran
Share some of your favorite quotes. Where are some unexpected places you’ve found inspiration? Write an original quote to inspire your fellow writers.
Books by the Crew
37 comments:
Fun blog, Lisa!
A fitting quote for writers, especially pirate writers: You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~ Ray Bradbury
Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~ E.L. Doctorow
One that I especially love: If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~ Toni Morrison
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~ Vladimir Nabakov
Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~ Anton Chekhov
Every writer I know has trouble writing. ~ Joseph Heller
Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any.
~ Orson Scott Card
Something I think we'd all agree with: Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you -- as if you haven't been told a million times already -- that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching. ~ Harlan Ellison
Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer. ~ Barbara Kingsolver
I believe there are two ways of writing novels. One is mine, making a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going right deep down into life and not caring a damn. ~ P. G. Wodehouse
I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write. ~ P. G. Wodehouse
I can't possibly match the erudition displayed above....I love you Ely!
So I'm using my trumps...all time favourites.:D
Anti-procrastination therapy:
In the long term we are all dead......John Maynard Keynes
A source of inspiration:
Scotch without ice is like life without romance.....Quantum Meditations.
Fabulous Lisa!
Humph .:D should be :D
After a few scotches:
There are two ways to write a story. There is the wrong way and there is my way
Ely,
Magnificient! You always enlighten the crew, and you even found a pirate's quote. Perfect:)
Q,
Thank you for sharing two Q originals:)The wrong way and my way, absolutely!
I love so many of the one that Ely just used. :) I really love the Chekov quote and the Doctorow quote. :)
Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
- Matthew Arnold
If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
- Edgar Rice Burroughs
Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
- E. L. Doctorow
The essence of drama is that man cannot walk away from the consequences of his own deeds.
- Harold Hayes
It's none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
- Ernest Hemingway
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
- George Moore
Engrave this in your brain: EVERY WRITER GETS REJECTED. You will be no different.
- John Scalzi
Great blog, Lisa!
I have a quote on the bulletin board by my computer that is not really about writing, but it helps me to just sit my butt down and write!
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. - Mark Twain
It helps me get over my resistance to start for fear it won't be good enough!
I never in my life thought to examine wise quotes like these, until I started hanging out with writers. I still only think to read them when you all point them out. LOL! This is what I need today. I have a peg board over my comp at home that is bare. Tonight, that board will be covered in quotes. Keep them coming!
My favs so far:
Keep in mind that the person to write for is yourself. Tell the story that you most desperately want to read.
- Susan Isaacs
It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
- Ernest Hemingway
It's my way or the highway. So I suggest you start exercising your thumb.
I dunno. I don't usually look at quotes much. I'm a complete slacker.
"It's my way or the highway. So I suggest you start exercising your thumb."
That's classic, Sin. Classic. :)
“ When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.”
John Ruskin
“A book worth reading is worth buying “
John Ruskin
“Writing is a lot easier if you have something to say”
Sholem Asch
“It only takes one person to change your life – you.”
Ruth Casey
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. “ this front The Great Man himself, Albert Einstein
“You can take for granted that people know more or less what a street, a shop, a beach, a sky, an oak tree look like. Tell them what makes this one different.”
Neil Gaiman
“Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It’s the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.”
Rhys Alexander
“Write what you believe in if you want the reader to believe in your writing.”
Julie
Speaking of Readers …
“There are three difficulties in authorship: to write anything worth publishing, to find honest men to publish it - and to get sensible men to read it.”
Charles Caleb Cotton
I know that this is applicable for some of you……
"You must learn to overcome your very natural and appropriate revulsion for your own work."
William Gibson
And of course …
“Never throw up on an editor.”
Ellen Datlow
Unexpected places I find inspiration? In my daily horoscopes.
From today’s scope:
“… you are going to succeed. That's what faith is all about. No tangible proof is necessary; it's all in your heart.”
See? It’s all in your Heart. How is that appropriate for a bunch of Romance Writers on the day before Valentines Day?
Jeez
That should be "How appropriate is that". Oh well, at least My Heart was in the right place! LOL
This one is not a writing quote. But the idea behind is so writing relatable, I can't help but love it:
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. ~Mary Anne Radmacher
I mean, isn't that the truth? Some days you will write at a roar; and then some days, it takes all you have just to make yourself go back to the computer and try again.
I'm sorry, I have kidney stones coming out my ears today. I'll drop in when I can. I love all the quotes!
Shouldn't kidney stones be coming out.....nevermind.
I might need a second board by the time this day is over. I'm loving all these.
Writers aren't exactly people...they're a whole bunch of people trying to be one person. -F. Scott Fitzgerald
Don't get it right, just get it written.
-James Thurber
You can't wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.
-Jack London
Fear is what you pass on your way to success.
-Theresa Behenna
Di
Great quotes! I needed inspiration today.
Some of my favorites are:
Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
~Joseph Pulitzer
In my opinion, what makes a writer is the doing it. Day after day, it's the hunger to be better. To create. A willingness to take the knocks when they come. To work through the days when it feels like you are doing the writing equivalent of pushing a turnip through a fine sieve. And then, again, it's about loving the writing when you hit a groove that makes the process feel pure magic.
~ Natasha Oakley
You know, Lisa, that it's dangerous to ask me about quotes. Here are a few of my favorites.
From Anne Lamott
"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft.
“Don't look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance."
From Katherine Paterson
"Hope ... is not a feeling; it is something you do."
"Fear is one thing. To let fear grab you and swing you around by the tail is another."
From Madeleine L’Engle
"Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it."
"A book comes and says, 'Write me.' My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough, but all I can do is listen to it, do what it tells me and collaborate."
From Alice Hoffman
"Writers don't choose their craft; they need to write in order to face the world."
"I wrote to find beauty and purpose, to know that love is possible and lasting and real, to see day lilies and swimming pools, loyalty and devotion."
From Gish Jen
"Writers . . . are also caught between worlds."
From Flannery O’ Connor
"Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you."
I didn't finish; I just stopped. :)
Jules- “… you are going to succeed. That’s what faith is all about. No tangible proof is necessary; it’s all in your heart.”
Regardless if it's a quote (in this case, horoscope) of the day, you should wake up saying this every morning. A positive attitude is what makes a difference in a life. I've never gotten anything like that from a horoscope but once upon a time I heard a speaker say, "The only person who can change your life is you. Make it what you want it to be about."
I decided to hunt for some new ones.
Be like a duck, my mother used to tell me. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.
Michael Caine
When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
Raymond Chandler
Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
Neil Gaiman
The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof shit detector.
Ernst Hemingway
Here's one for Janga.
Stories have a beginning, a midlle and an end. But not necessarily in that order.
Robert Silverberg
And one for all of us.
Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.
John Ruskin
Great quotes, Lisa!!! And I LOVE quotes. Can't get enough of them. But wouldn't you know it, at the moment I can't think of even one! What's wrong with my brain that it's always spitting information at me when I don't particuarly need it. But when I try to actively call something up it says, Uh, sorry. I'd rather focus on your Eric Bana fantasy now.
Julie, your heart was in the right place? When did that happen? I thought you were immune!-or maybe that's just the cat...:)
I've totally done the "when in doubt, have a person with a gun come into the room." It totally works.
LOL Me too. Love loaded gun scenes.
Some real nice ones out there. Alas, I have none to offer. Brain slow, no caffiene yet...
Though no guarantee it will be better later!
Thanks, Terri. I love the Silverberg quote. It definitely describes my process. :)
Heck SIN, Every morning I wake up and say … "you are not going to blow up. No one you care about is going to blow up. That’s what faith is all about. No tangible proof is necessary; It’s all in my heart.”
Truth is sucess is not just in my heart, its in Gods hands too. I learned that a long time ago.
My quote of the day "What doesn't kill you will make for a Realyyyyy good story"
Janga I love your quotes. I'm still laughing about the goverment discovering women one.
Pffft! Julie, you totally ignored me! And I thought that was one of my better insults too!lol.
*Waves* I disappear for a few weeks. Woot! Lisa, are you back for good?
Ely, one of my all time favorites is Ray Bradbury. He helped me through a very emotional trying few months, when it seemed like reality was way too much.
I also like Fran Lebowitz's
Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not have possibly met.
Renee
Oh, welcome back Renee! We missed you!
"Pffft!-ing again, Kelly? Perhaps a little Gas-Ex will help relieve your problemo!"
Kelly, my dearestest darling dear. Patience! I was Doing Mom Stuff. Had to pick up the DD from school. Jeez!
And you know where I keep my heart, Kelly. I keep it in an alabaster falcon headed Canopic jar like all of the Other Mummies!
LOL! Julie, you know I lack patience!:)
I'm hoping I can be back for good.
Renee
Thank you one and all for all the great quotes. I'm sorry I have been MIA today. Surgery sucks, but somebody has to do it:) *waving hi to Renee* I'm here every other Friday. And where have you been my dear? I'm so out of the loop.
I'm still busting up kidney stones. Can you believe I have been mandated to work over? Will this day ever end?
writing should b from the heart
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