Writerly Words From Them Who Know

I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I figure I put in that time (although I lost) in June for camp and I planned to spend this month editing that novel. But I do follow along in my NaNo mail, checking for pep talks from other writers because it reminds me that I'm not alone in the writing world, no matter how frustrated I feel sometimes when the muse won't play.

November is a tough time for writing. Thanksgiving is just two weeks away and then there's that Christmas rush coming. Oh, I can't wait for all the stores to get crowded. I'd rather stick it out at home with a cursor blinking at me while I struggle to think of the next words to put on the page. Or how to arrange them so it doesn't sound like a kindergartner wrote them anyway.

So today I'm bringing you some writing quotes from authors who know what a challenging business this one is. Enjoy and feel free to leave your favorites too, because I love adding to my collection!

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress. - Philip Roth


We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. … Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting. - John Updike


There is only one plot—things are not what they seem. - Jim Thompson

You know, what may appear from a distance as success is really, closer up, a series of failures punctuated by occasional achievements…. You’ve got to be stubborn about it, keeping faith with your work in spite of all the distractions and the people around you who don’t understand the value of what you do…. So no excuses. Just write. - Wesley McNair, Poet Laureate of Maine


It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and beings to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does. - William Faulkner

A real book is not one that’s read, but one that reads us. - W.H. Auden

“Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise. - Philip Roth (again)

Writing—the art of communicating thoughts to the mind, through the eye—is the great invention of the world. - Abraham Lincoln



We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle

Writing a novel is like making love to a gorilla. You’re not done until the gorilla is done. - Craig Ferguson



I collect inspirational and writerly quotes on my Pinterest board, so seriously, toss 'em my way. When I'm not here, I'm blogging at Have Novel, Will Edit, hanging on Facebook, G+, and Twitter.