Lean on the delete key, says Barbara Kingsolver QUOTE FOR WRITERS
Revision is my favorite work, the part of the process when art really happens. Once you know where you’re going, you can back up and tilt every scene in just … Continue reading
“If I give myself just one constraint…suddenly I’m free” Sarah Viren on rejecting and accepting the restrictions of genre QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I am an essayist, not a poet, but that means nothing when I’m working on one line, trying to find or make a word that fits the sound and meat … Continue reading
Why the first draft just won’t do by Leonard Cohen QUOTES FOR WRITERS
My first thoughts are dull, are prejudiced, are poisonous. I find last thought, best thought. Leonard Cohen
Poetry is necessary…Adrienne Rich QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I have never believed that poetry is an escape from history, and I do not think it is more, or less, necessary than food, shelter, health, education, decent working conditions. … Continue reading
Why we need litrature – Ursula K. Le Guin QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Literature is the operating instructions. The best manual we have. The most useful guide to the country we’re visiting, life. Ursula K. Le Guin
Three things are important if you want to write, says Madeleine L’Engle QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I have advice for people who want to write. I don’t care whether they’re 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, … Continue reading
“…remember how much we love the mere act of putting words on the page…” Lee Martin QUOTES FOR WRITERS
In every workshop I teach, I pass along a single piece of writing advice. It comes from Isak Dinesen who encouraged writers to, “Write a little every day, without hope, … Continue reading
Why we can all read Chekhov and learn from him, says Francine prose QUOTES FOR WRITERS
You can pick up a volume of Chekhov’s stories and open it anywhere, and, no matter how well or poorly the Russian has been translated, you will probably have a … Continue reading
So, you’ve never earned a penny from your writing? Anne Lamott has some words of comfort QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all … Continue reading
Resist the urge to do housework, says Pat Barker. QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Keep your bum glued to the chair. It’s extraordinary how, if a piece of writing is going badly—and sometimes even when it’s going well—other activities become steadily more attractive. Not … Continue reading
“…you can almost always make something better by making it shorter…” Keith Gessen QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I once heard George Saunders tell a story about being edited at the New Yorker, where his editor kept asking him to cut a highly precise number of lines—18 lines, … Continue reading
Why life and reading begin after the age of 40 – W.H.Auden QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Between the ages of twenty and forty we are engaged in the process of discovering who we are, which involves learning the difference between accidental limitations which it is our … Continue reading
Why writers get blocked (sometimes) – Annie Dillard QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
When you are stuck in a book; when you are well into writing it, and know what comes next, and yet cannot go on; when every morning for a week … Continue reading
What you can do to books – Matt Haig QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
It is okay to dog ear pages. It is okay to draw in books. Doodles. Margin notes. Highlights. Books are to be interacted with, argued with, marked, loved. A book … Continue reading
