“The miraculous connection between writing and the immune system results from cracking through inhibition. It seems that when we don’t speak the truth of our experience, we inhibit our emotions, and that inhibits our immune function. Keeping secrets and maintaining denial require physical energy, energy our bodies could use in healthier ways were it available.”
~ Peggy Tabor Millin
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✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Don’t Quit When You’re Struggling
“Beginning a novel is always hard. It feels like going nowhere. I always have to write at least 100 pages that go into the trashcan before it finally begins to work. It’s discouraging, but necessary to write those pages. I try to consider them pages -100 to zero of the novel.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Stop Staring – Start Writing
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ The Three D’s of Writing
“[As a writer] you have to have the three D’s: drive, discipline and desire. If you’re missing any one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it’s going to be really hard to get anything done.” ~ Nora Roberts
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Turn Your Memories into Stories
“Good writing is remembering detail. Most people want to forget. Don’t forget things that were painful or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that tells the truth.”
~ Paula Danziger
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Do You Want to be a Writer?
““If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ~ Stephen King
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Just Write It!
“Just write it. Fix it later. That means: don’t worry about word choice or grammar. Don’t worry about getting your facts right.” ~ Joseph Finder
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Importance of Characters to Your Story
“Without characters, you don’t have a story. And to take that one step further, without characters the reader will care about, you still don’t have a story. Flat characters are the death of a narrative. That’s why I love Ernest Hemingway’s classic quote: “When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people, not characters.” ~ Josh Sippie
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ When to Rewrite and Revise
“Revise your story. Revising is an important part of any writer’s process, but there is much debate as to the best approach. Some writers like to finish the whole piece before starting any major rewrites. Only when the work is completed are they able to assess the story as a whole and recognize its flaws. Others prefer to rewrite as they write, finding it easier to tighten the laces as they go. A revision early in the story can clear the path for engaging plot points down the line that wouldn’t have been possible had things been written differently. Try both methods so you can feel out which one works best for you.”
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Don’t Rush the Scene
“Let your scenes play out. Don’t cheat your readers by trying to wrap up every scene too quickly. Events in real life don’t often end neatly; chances are neither will events in your story. Instead, let the falling action of each scene sow the seeds of the following scene’s rising action. Propel your audience through to the next plot point—make them want to keep reading. If you are going for suspense, cliffhangers are a plus. But there is a big difference between a cliffhanger and an abrupt, unnatural close, so make your choices carefully.”
