"Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
-E. L. Doctorow
"You can fix anything but a blank page."
-Nora Roberts
"You don't start out writing the good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence."
-Octavia E. Butler
"Good writing is rewriting."
-Truman Capote
"To write something you have to risk making a fool of yourself."
-Anne Rice
"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt."
-Sylvia Plath
"Don't just plan to write-write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style."
-PD James
"I never wait for inspiration to strike. That would be a long, sad wait. Successful writing is one part inspiration and two parts sheer stubbornness."
-Gillian Flynn
"A writer never finds the time to write. A writer makes it. If you don't have the drive, the discipline, and the desire, then you can have all the talent in the world and you aren't going to finish a book."
-Nora Roberts
"First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice."
-Octavia E. Butler
"Bad writing precedes good writing. This is an infallible rule, so don't waste time trying to avoid bad writing. (That just slows down the process.) Anything committed to paper can be changed. The idea is to start, and then go from there."
-Janet Hulstrand
"Write. Write. Write. Don't worry so much about being published or discovered. Worry about writing what you have to write-what you need to say, and how you're going to say it. The rest will come."
-Uzodinma Iweala.
-E. L. Doctorow
"You can fix anything but a blank page."
-Nora Roberts
"You don't start out writing the good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence."
-Octavia E. Butler
"Good writing is rewriting."
-Truman Capote
"To write something you have to risk making a fool of yourself."
-Anne Rice
"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt."
-Sylvia Plath
"Don't just plan to write-write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style."
-PD James
"I never wait for inspiration to strike. That would be a long, sad wait. Successful writing is one part inspiration and two parts sheer stubbornness."
-Gillian Flynn
"A writer never finds the time to write. A writer makes it. If you don't have the drive, the discipline, and the desire, then you can have all the talent in the world and you aren't going to finish a book."
-Nora Roberts
"First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice."
-Octavia E. Butler
"Bad writing precedes good writing. This is an infallible rule, so don't waste time trying to avoid bad writing. (That just slows down the process.) Anything committed to paper can be changed. The idea is to start, and then go from there."
-Janet Hulstrand
"Write. Write. Write. Don't worry so much about being published or discovered. Worry about writing what you have to write-what you need to say, and how you're going to say it. The rest will come."
-Uzodinma Iweala.