A few thoughts on writing – Part III

One of my favorite facets of writing a blog or a shot story is that you often go in with an idea of what you want to write. You have some general thoughts and ideas, you might even map out an outline. You start writing and the words come slow at first, but then they start to come one after another. Before long they’re coming in a steady flow. You’re mildly surprised, but you don’t want to jinx it. You put your head down and keep going.

Before you know it, you look up and you’re shocked with the passage of time and to see what shows up on the page. I love the writing process. It’s one of the reasons why, one of my favorite quotes has always been a short one by Joan Didion: “I write to discover what I think.”

I’ve run two posts on writing quotes earlier this month, A few thoughts on writing and A few thoughts on writing – Part II. Here’s the last of my favorites.

Some of my favorites:

“Shut up and write anyway. Don’t use anything as an excuse.” ―Natalie Goldberg

The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.” ―E. L. Doctorow

“One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing.” ―E. L. Doctorow

“The first draft of anything is shit.” ―Ernest Hemingway

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”  ―Stephen King

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” ―Ray Bradbury

“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” ―William Faulkner

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”  ―George Orwell

“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.”
―William Faulkner

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“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. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.”  ―Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

“In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” ―William Faulkner

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” ―Mark Twain

“Anytime you write something, you go through so many phases. You go through the ‘I’m a Fraud’ phase. You go through the ‘I’ll Never Finish’ phase. And every once in a while you think, ‘What if I actually have created what I set out to create, and it’s received as such?'” ―Lin-Manuel Miranda

“Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.” —Jessamyn West

“Sometimes a line enters your head, and you’re so grateful for it. You go online to check to see if anyone wrote it before you. You must have stolen it.” ―Lin-Manuel Miranda

“Write while the heat is in you. … The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with.” —Henry David Thoreau

“Sometimes the ideas just come to me. Other times I have to sweat and almost bleed to make ideas come. It’s a mysterious process, but I hope I never find out exactly how it works. I like a mystery, as you may have noticed.” —J.K. Rowling

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“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.” —Natalie Goldberg

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” —Terry Pratchett

“Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write. In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write.” —Natalie Goldberg

“Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the great cure for all human ills, as I have found out long ago.” —C. S. Lewis

“Don’t take anyone’s writing advice too seriously.” —Lev Grossman

“If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you.” —Natalie Goldberg

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.” —William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ―Maya Angelou,

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“Writing is hard. Writing well is hard. Writing under deadline is just misery at its most horrible.” ―Nicholas Sparks

“Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.” ―Kurt Vonnegut

“It’s not the beginning or the destination that counts. It’s the ride in between.” ―David Baldacci

“Growing up is highly overrated. Just be an author.” ―Neil Gaiman

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” — Mark Twain

“I learned to write by writing.” ―Neil Gaiman

“A book is a dream that you hold in your hands.” ―Neil Gaiman

“You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.” ―Neil Gaiman

“When you catch an adjective, kill it.” —Mark Twain

“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

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” —Anton Chekhov

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“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering… these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for.” ―Walt Whitman

“A word after a word after a word is power.” —Margaret Atwood

“I love my rejection slips. They show me I try.” —Sylvia Plath

“The adverb is not your friend. Consider the sentence “He closed the door firmly.” It’s by no means a terrible sentence, but ask yourself if ‘firmly’ really has to be there.” —Stephen King

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.” —Stephen King

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” —Ernest Hemingway

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” —Robin Williams

“I write to discover what I think.” —Joan Didion