Every good poem begins in language awake to its own connections — language that hears itself and what is around it, sees itself and what is around it, looks back at those who look into its gaze and knows more perhaps even than we do about who are, what we are. ~ Jane Hirshfield
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Writer’s Wisdom ~ Zadie Smith on Creating Space to Write
Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you. ~ Zadie Smith
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Zadie Smith on ‘What Matters’
Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation.’ You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle.’ All that matters is what you leave on the page. ~ Zadie Smith
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Zadie Smith on Reading
When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Malcolm Cowley
The germ of a story is something seen or heard, or heard about, or suddenly remembered; it may be a remark casually dropped at the dinner table (as in the case of Henry James’s story, The Spoils of Poynton), or again it may be the look on a stranger’s face. ~ Malcolm Cowley
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Anne Lamott Tip #6 of 6
To be a good writer, you not only have to write a great deal but you have to care. ~ Anne Lamott
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Anne Lamott ~ Tip #2 of 6
Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life. ~ Anne Lamott
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Anne Lamott ~ Tip #1 of 6
I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. ~ Anne Lamott
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
There is only one single way. Go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids you write; find out whether it is spreading out its roots in the deepest places of your heart, acknowledge to yourself whether you would have to die if it were denied you to write. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Susan Orlean 4th of 4 Tips
Don’t be ashamed to use the thesaurus. I could spend all day reading Roget’s! There’s nothing better when you’re in a hurry and you need the right word right now. ~ Susan Orlean
