writers-on-writing

All throughout our lives, we selectively draw on selected shavings of life events and reflect upon them through consciousness, creating an arranged catalogue of senses, faculties, and mental activities that compose our personal life story.

Words raced thru his mind and his fingers ached to capture them all on paper.

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.

I live within my daydreams and nightmares; through that, I have learned to create, and I never cease from doing so.

People approach writers, assuming we pull a perfect text out of our nose each time (well spelled). Spelling is the least of it.

I believe that half the trouble in the world comes from people asking 'What have I achieved?' rather than 'What have I enjoyed?' I've been writing about a subject I love as long as I can remember--horses and the people associated with them, anyplace, anywhere, anytime. I couldn't be happier knowing that young people are reading my books. But even more important to me is that I've enjoyed so much the writing of them.

...if he can write a book at all, a writer cannot do it by peeping over his shoulder at somebody else, any more than a woman can have a baby by watching some other woman have one. It is a genital process, and all of its stages are intra-abdominal;

The only way to be inclined to write is to write to your inclination.

Changing imagination into fiction is what I love to do.

A writer needs to ingest love to be passionate. Passion is a metabolite of love, and good writing is an active metabolite of passion.

You may be a serious writer if _.10. your hard drive is littered with random notes and story ideas _ but not nearly as littered as your head.9. you keep pen and paper next to your bed. And in the glove compartment. And in your gym bag. Also on the rim of the bathtub.8. a day without Roget__ Thesaurus is a day without sunshine.7. your emotional landscape includes creativity, confidence, elation, frustration, and the occasional neurosis.6. you__e ever had to clean peanut butter and bread crumbs off your keyboard, because the work was going well, and you didn__ want to stop for lunch.5. grammar and punctuation turn you on.4. your interest in a new acquaintance is directly proportionate to his/her potential as a secondary character.3. you__e worn the white e, r, s, and t clean off your keyboard.2. the search history on your web browser would raise red flags with the FBI, CIA, DEA, and mental health professionals everywhere.1. you have stories to tell, and you just. Keep. Telling. Them.

Write, write, write! Get your you-know-what in the chair and write more books: write the books of your heart and don__ let stress steal your joy.

You__l have days of complete lack of faith in your abilities. But you have to keep coming back. That__ when you know you__e a writer _ when you take the failures and appear at the desk again, over and over again.

Each night, I close my eyes and dream. In the morning, I open my eyes again, but the dreaming doesn't stop.

When a solid first draft of an original tale is complete...you feel as if you could do anything.

I am swimming in a sea of words, attempting to keep my head above water.

Let life be the foundation. Be brave. Wander deep inside yourself to the little room no one knows about. Fling the door wide open and write.

To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say here and now that any unsolicited manuscripts or typescripts sent to me will be destroyed unread. You must make your way yourself. Why you should be so set on the nearly always disappointing profession is a puzzling question.