Still More Writers on Writing
I keep finding writing quotes that inspire me. If they inspire you too, please share them. I put them on our Pinterest board as well.
“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or for hours, nobody can say.” ~Virginia Woolf
“To survive, you must tell stories.” ~Umberto Eco
“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” ~Ray Bradbury
I like this. It rings true, doesn’t it? Plus, it reminds me of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back:
“Try not. Do…or do not. There is no try.”
“Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind.” ~Catherine Drinker Bowen
“Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that’s the whole art and joy of words.” ~C.S. Lewis
This quote is from my favorite novel, Lewis’s Till We Have Faces. I’ve always believed that nothing is more difficult or ultimately fulfilling than finding the words to express what one really means. Saying what you mean seems to be obvious, almost trite, advice to a writer. But it’s much harder than it sounds.
“If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent, whatever that is. Who am I? What right have I to speak? Who will listen to me if I do? You’re a human being, with a unique story to tell, and you have every right. If you speak with passion, many of us will listen. We need stories to live, all of us. We live by story. Yours enlarges the circle.” ~Richard Rhodes
This may be the most inspiring quote on writing I’ve posted yet.
“Don’t just plan to write–write. It is by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.” ~P.D. James
Writing style and proficiency emerges through practice over time. There’s no rushing it. This is a principle that WriteAtHome has always subscribed to. I’m glad Mr. James agrees.
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