A Glimpse of Starlight

3 more days — or two, if you don’t count today.  Feeling nervous yet?  I, for one, am.  It’s not panic — not yet, that’ll come in the last week of November — but it’s this omnipresent tensing of my stomach whenever I see today’s date.  To combat any last-minute doubt, queasiness, or lack of motivation, I’ve compiled some of my favorite writing quotes.  May they inspire you to continue on and challenge you to do your best.

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When your friend smirks, “I’m sure I can write a book,” just assure them:

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

When you’re trying to prioritize your time and are tempted to ignore the stack of books by your bed:

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

When doubt clenches your muscles and drains your excitement:

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.

When you’re feeling lazy and want to stop trying to write your best:

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

When you’re tempted to use cliches or flat descriptions:

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

When writer’s block hits, and despair looms overhead:

Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.

When you are absolutely certain you’re insane:

So what? All writers are lunatics!

When you just don’t know what to write:

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

When you wonder why you’re doing this crazy writing thing in the first place:

I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.

A word after a word after a word is power.

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.

I write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I would die.

And when you need a reason to smile or the encouragement that you’re not alone in this struggle:

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

(Authors of the quotes, in order from top to bottom: Ernest Hemmingway, Stephen King, Sylvia Plath, Mark Twain, Anton Chekov, Louis L’Amour, Cornelia Funke, William Wordsworth, Anne Frank, Margaret Atwood, James A. Michener, Isaac Asimov, W. Somerset Maugham.)