This week's entry: ...I got nothin'. Seriously. I'm neck-deep in plots, and the last thing this blog needs is another plotting discussion. I could delete all the plot-related entries and cut the content of this thing by half. So, since I'm also neck-deep in the query process and everyone can use the occasional reminder that we're hard at work at the most awesome job in existence, I thought I'd post a bunch of my favorite quotes about writing:
"Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life." --Lawrence Kasdan
"I have lived life to the full but my interior life is where I live life and it’s far more central to me than the external life, and that’s because I’m a writer. … You have to be lonely to be a writer." --Edna O’Brien
“You’re still going to get criticized, so you might as well do whatever the fuck you want.” --Kathleen Hanna
"Ah yes, the head is full of books. The hard part is to force them down through the bloodstream and out through the fingers." --Edward Abbey
"All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer." --Ernest Hemingway
"You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write." --Saul Bellow
"Every novel should have a beginning, a muddle, and an end. The “muddle” is the heart of your tale." --Peter De Vries
"I spent a long time writing in obscurity. You'll spend a long time writing in obscurity." --Dan Kennedy
"A writer’s brain is full of little gifts, like a piñata at a birthday party. It’s also full of demons, like a piñata at a birthday party in a mental hospital. The truth is, it’s demons that keep a tortured writer’s spirit alive, not Tootsie Rolls. Sure they’ll give you a tiny burst of energy, but they won’t do squat for your writing. So treat your demons with the respect they deserve, and with enough prescriptions to keep you wearing pants." --Colin Nissan
"When you’re trying to create a career as a writer, a little delusional thinking goes a long way." --Michael Lewis
"Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world." --Ann Patchett
Yes, I collect quotes. I could do another ten entries just like this and never repeat myself. :P I'll close it with one I constantly remind myself as I knuckle down to hack away at yet another plot:
"Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake." --John Cleese
Next week: a world in a tower.
I especially appreciate the one on criticism. Also, that's a well timed reminder. I needed that.
ReplyDeleteI have to remind myself of that sometimes too. Glad to help. ^_^
DeleteI especially love the quotes by Kathleen Hanna and Michael Lewis! We do need a little encouragement every once in a while (heck, who am I kidding; everyday!) so reading these were great. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWelcome! I'll probably do this again at some point, since people seem to like it.
DeleteHanna's quote gave me a good laugh!
ReplyDeleteIT'S SO TRUE. :p
DeleteOoo, good idea! I was flat out of topics so I posted a snippet, but someday I might do quotes. I've always loved that Ann Patchett one, and the Kasdan quote is SO TRUE. Thanks, Mason, These were great :)
ReplyDeleteI've actually quoted the Kasdan one directly to people who asked me what it's like to be a writer. They didn't seem to understand. O_o
DeleteGood stuff indeed. I'm definitely delusional, muddling through edits at the moment. Nothing's ever perfect and I'll probably always think it's crap -- but I've got to get it out the door at some point so I can work on something NEW.
ReplyDeleteHeh. I can understand that, but in my experience, I know something's crap if I'm rushing to get it finished. I want the good stuff to last when I'm writing it.
DeleteI have a few faves too -- what one wo/man can do, another can do. It's from The Edge. It makes all things possible.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like to try your luck at a giveaway, come on by :-)
Anna from Shout with Emaginette
Hmm... that's one of those ones that's good in principle, but in actuality it's far too easy to pick apart.
DeleteHomework for hte rest of your life... It's more like drowning in quicksand and trying to tread water if you ask me. ;) I busted a gut at "...a beginning, a muddle, and an end..." LOL!
ReplyDeleteIt's true, though, isn't it? :P And I like the homework analogy better, it sounds less fatal.
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