Sometimes everyone needs the odd quote or two to put things back into some kind of perspective… I haven’t shared any for a while but found myself needing a little inspiration stuck as I am in the doldrums of a second first draft (which is to say I felt I needed to go back to the first chapter of my WIP and work through the whole thing again as something felt off around the 40k mark) So I thought I would share a few favourites from a few authors that had a thing or two to say about writing…

First the inspiring…

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” ~ Jack Kerouac

“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” ~ Saul Bellow

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” ~ Ray Bradbury

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ~ Anton Chekhov

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” ~ Louis L’Amour

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ~ Philip Pullman

“Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent.” ~ Neil Gaiman

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” ~ William Wordsworth

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ~ Jack London

“Cynics are simply thwarted romantics.” ~ William Goldman

Then the somewhat derisive, because sometimes you need a little perspective…

“Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.” ~ Howard Nemerov

“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

“So what? All writers are lunatics!” ~ Cornelia Funke,

And finally one from the author of my misfortunes… As its his voice at the back of my head telling me I need to go back through this first draft and revise before I can move forward with the third Hannibal novel