Writers: Which are you most likely to say?

"Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work."--This is the truest if one is serious about writing.

"Easy reading is damn hard writing"--This is also very true, as is its counterpart, "Easy writing is damn hard reading"

Writing is work. While inspiration is nice when you have it, if a writer depends solely upon it then he/she is going to be looking at a lot of blank pages. It's been my experience that inspiration comes when you scoot all your excuses for not writing out the door and get down to it.

A good positive message is this Emerson quote, when he was referring to writers: "His failures are the preparation of his victories." Needless to say this refers to the feminine pronoun as well.

Haha, as I went down the list I was like, "Oh, I would say that! And that one! And that one!"

We can pick more than one, right? :D

Easy reading is damn hard writing - Nathaniel Hawthorne

I've never heard this quote before but really like it. Very, very true.

I agree with the John Steinback (oh, god, I literally just forgot how to spell his surname and I have an exam on Of Mice and Men in a month. Note to self: Do extra revision!) but I wouldn't say it.

"So what? All writers are lunatics!" - Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

Damn straight!

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it. - Anais Nin

I like this one. I feel like it's... authentic. I don't know to explain it. I feel like it gets me.

(Wow - sounding like a massive **** right now).

Oh, and I've already said that public one loads of times :)

BQ - Ooh, google is very helpful when searching "Writing quotes"

This one made me laugh: "I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done." - Steven Wright.

And I can't pick a favourite.

Here are some I like:

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Benjamin Franklin

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." Ray Bradbury

"That isn't writing at all, it's typing." Truman Capote. Wise words, that.

Nice question :)

Hmm, they're all great quotes. Let's see:

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self - Cyril Connolly--- I have to tell myself this on a regular basis, but it is SO true.

"So what? All writers are lunatics!" - Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

Honestly? You have to be a little bit crazy to be truly brilliant. And that is A-okay with me.

“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald---- I find both incredibly irritating.

BQ:

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

Because I have schizophrenic moments. :)

My favorite writing quotes aren't on your list.

1) "The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable or (unwilling) to say." ~Anaïs Nin (addition my own)

2) "I try to leave out the parts that people skip." ~Elmore Leonard

3) "The wastebasket is a writer's best friend." ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

*** If you can't toss your favorite scenes/characters then you won't amount to much of a writer because you won't be objective enough to be truthful to yourself (and your writing ability).

4) "Writing comes more easily if you have something to say." ~Sholem Asch

5) "The road to hell is paved with adverbs." ~Stephen King

And my personal favorite:

"I'd rather be caught holding up a bank than stealing so much as a two-word phrase from another writer."

Out of yours I've said "An overuse of exclamation points is like laughing at your own jokes" which is almost verbatim of what F. Scott Fitzgerald said.

The ones I find to be too romanticized by the author of the quote are:

"If you do not breathe through writing...our culture has no use for it." - Anais Nin

*** This is an exaggeration of writing passionately. I'm more practical about writing and believe that writers who are emotionally vested in their writing produce better material, but that's only because they put more effort into it...not because they "breathe" or "cry" or "live" through their writing.

And I don't at all agree with:

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self "- Cyril Connolly

*** Writing commercially (for others), is a job and requires standards and a certain amount of tact. If you're writing for yourself then you're biased in your views and are more likely to project your prejudices through your writing. If you write for others then you censor some of your flaws and focus on the story rather than the rant.

I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork. - Peter De Vries

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self - Cyril Connolly

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” - Stephen King

As I inform folks, writers do not write for folks, they write for themselves. If all writers wrote for folks to learn there stuff and get popular... good there might be no writers. Even if you're tremendous well, powerful, gifted you almost always would possibly not be wealthy and popular. Even actors and actresses not often come to be popular. So how most likely is your query, good a million in almost always a million,000 folks gets there booklet released, and approximately a million and 10,000 could have there booklet widespread. being popular is an extra factor regardless that.

I really like the first one because it is all too true, and also the ninth one because a lot of people think that they can just write to make a quick buck :) Here's another one I like:

"There are many reasons why novelists write - but they all have one thing in common: a need to create an alternative world" - John Fowles

This is so true, for me. Sometimes I just need to escape for a while :) Especially when I'm feeling down, writing always cheers me up :D

~Soph xx

The best three are:

"If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry through writing, or sing in writing, the don't write, because our culture has no use for it." ~ Anais Nin

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." ~Cyril Connolly

"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." ~ Stephen King

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. - Stephen King

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self - Cyril Connolly

Both of those are my favorite because they're just so true.

BQ: This is one of my favorites anways:

“Hold all writing advice lightly; every writer has to chart her own course by her own star.” –Kyran Pittman

* Easy reading is damn hard writing - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Definitely my favorite.

My VERY favorite of all time, is:

"The first draft is ****" - Ernest Hemmingway.

I used to think that I was special, for some reason, that I could create a first draft that was great. I was totally wrong. I wish I could tell that to my young self, but I can't lol. So I just try to tell other young writers.