thoughts on writing
well-arranged words rearrange reality.
Visakan Veerasamy • Tweet
My only ritual for writing is that I do it every morning. I wake up and get to work.
Walter Mosley • This Year You Write Your Novel
“You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.”
James Clear • 3-2-1: How to stick to a new habit, how to handle criticism, and 4 types of wealth
Be kind to yourself. Give yourself room. There are years to go. Don’t pummel yourself with expectation. Go easy. Your material will eventually find its way to voice.
Kurt Vonnegut • Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style
This applies to life not just writing
If you have a plan—if you know the end when you start—it’s no fun to write that novel.
One-thousand or two-thousand words every day for the next twenty years. At the start, you might shoot for one short story a week, fifty-two stories a year, for five years. You will have to write and put away or burn a lot of material before you are comfortable in this medium. You might as well start now and get the necessary work done.
Ray Bradbury • Zen in the Art of Writing
My product won’t write sentences for you. The slow process of writing is what clarifies thought, shapes identity, and cultivates a lens to the world. Writing is the whole point; it isn’t a chore to optimize, it’s an infinite game.
Michael Dean • Mega-Update
Neil Gaiman has two rules when he sits down to write:1. He doesn't have to write anything if he doesn't feel like it.2. He can't leave or do anything else until the writing time he set aside is over.(This comes from his appearance on the Tim Ferriss podcast - it's worth a listen.)
Josh Spector on LinkedIn: Neil Gaiman has two rules when he sits down to write: 1. He doesn't have… | 12 comments
Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.