START THE WEEK with a creative writing exercise that will work for ever and ever….
Actually, this isn’t a writing exercise at all. It is a writing prompt. There’s a difference: an exercise is designed, it is crafted and – ideally – should be tested … Continue reading
It is all in the details – Stephen King QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work. … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand … Continue reading
What happens when we allow ourselves to write freely…Sharon Olds QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Whenever we give our pen some free will, we may surprise ourselves. All that wanting to seem normal in regular life, all that fitting in falls away in the face … Continue reading
Clive James on originality QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Scarcely anything is original. It’s very hard to be totally inventive, so I’m not terribly interested in originality. Vitality is all I care about. CLIVE JAMES Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash
There’s self-respect in making things, says poet Sharon Olds QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Writing or making anything — a poem, a bird feeder, a chocolate cake — has self-respect in it. You’re working. You’re trying. You’re not lying down on the ground, having … Continue reading
What a writer must do…William Faulkner QUOTES FOR WRITERS
He must never be satisfied with what he does. It never is as good as it can be done. Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. … Continue reading
“…nothing means anything until the next day when you do it again…” Ernest Hemingway on writing QUOTES FOR WRITING
You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next and you stop and try to live through until the … Continue reading
Writers should be wracked with guilt and self-hatred – Harlan Coben QUOTES FOR WRITERS
There are days you just can’t write. Fill them with self-loathing. What, snowflake, you wanted me to tell you it’s okay to feel this way? It’s not. On the days … Continue reading
What inspires us – Seamus Heaney QUOTES FOR WRITERS
‘Inspiration…it’s a large ancient word. It means something that tempts you, that suggests you could go ahead – a little flicker of energy. It doesn’t need to be dramatic, just … Continue reading
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
“…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
A lot of things are easier and more fun than writing, says Stephen Sondheim QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
I write with soft pencils because you get to spend more time sharpening the pencil, which is easier and more fun than writing. STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Grief, Ignorance and Slowly becoming a Writer – Viet Thanh Nguyen QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
…I learned about grief as I worked on that damned short story collection. I did not know what I was doing, and what I also did not know, facing my … Continue reading
Love the reader, says Ellen Gilchrist QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
How often I have tried to tell writing students that the first thing a writer must do is love the reader and wish the reader well. The writer must trust … Continue reading
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 