Comments on: Writing Quotes

By: Steve Buchheit

Steve Buchheit — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:33:13 +0000

About four months ago one of the writers in my critique group put his work to be critiqued on our group site and sent around an email with the title, “Novel Up.”

I loved that. There’s so many permutations of meaning to it. Like “Pony up,” “Giddy Up,” and the way I use it when I taped it to my laptop, “Cowboy Up.” Time to Novel Up.

By: Pat Lundrigan

Pat Lundrigan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:09:50 +0000

Here’s what I have . . .
2cd draft = 1st-10%

Each para is a complete moment/A sentence is a thought. Visualize first, then describe.

From now on, you will write, write, write, write, write, every day of the week and every week of the year.

Conflict+action+resolution

By: Graeme Williams

Graeme Williams — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:41:15 +0000

I have index cards scattered around. Actually taping them somewhere is well beyond my organizational powers. Anyway, here’s a timely one:

If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.

– Emma Goldman

By: Bran Fan

Bran Fan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:51:51 +0000

I like the one from Miss Snark. “Write well. Quit obsessing.” I read her blog from beginning to end, and those four words sum it all up.

(I miss Miss Snark!)

By: Joe Iriarte

Joe Iriarte — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:35:45 +0000

I don’t literally clip and paste quotes, but here are a couple that I have found powerful for me recently:

“The important thing about songs is that they’re just like stories. They don’t mean a damn unless there’s people listenin’ to them.” -Anansi (Neil Gaiman)

“Climbing as we fall
We dare to hold on to our fate
And steal away our destiny
To catch ourselves
With quiet grace”
-INXS, “The Stairs”

By: Adam Heine

Adam Heine — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:32:42 +0000

I have excerpts from a comic book by David Mack where he discusses the War of Art. For example:

The only way to combat
resistance of something
you must do is to put in
the time & due diligence
daily. Consider yourself
a pro beforehand.

You can read the whole excerpt (not all of which is taped to my desk) here.

I also have 4 words taped around my laptop monitor to remind me what I must be for my kids no matter what I happen to be doing when they seek my attention: “available”, “responsive”, “not annoyed”.

By: Marie Brennan

Marie Brennan — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:31:51 +0000

. . . I just have “Write your novel!”

Written in Japanese.

For reasons that are now completely outdated, but the thing has been there for about six years now and I hardly ever even notice it’s there anymore. (Which kind of defeats the purpose.)

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:36:15 +0000

I like this one:

“When we’re lost in the tangled forest of our own thoughts and fears and hesitations and self-doubt, a single quote can be the beacon that leads us back into the light.”

By: Diana Pharaoh Francis

Diana Pharaoh Francis — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:04:08 +0000

Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett

Abandon All Standards and Write Fast (no idea the source)

Before enlightenment
chopping wood and carrying water
After enlightenment:
chopping wood and carrying water

By: Alma Alexander

Alma Alexander — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:58:29 +0000

Bruce Lee:

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

heh. Sorry, but was he channeling Yoda or was Yoda channelling him? (“No! Try not! DO, or do not! There is no try!”

I don’t have inspirational quotes, oddly enough. Not the kind I copy out and stick on monitors, anyway. The one that I carry inside my heart and that gets me through blocks and frustrations and hard times is something that the late great Roger Zelazny told me once, after reading my work. Corner me at a con somewhere and I’ll tell you the full story…