writer’s block

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but that’s the only way you can do anything really good. ~ William Faulkner

If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write. ~ W. Somerset Maughaj

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins 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

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

“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.” ~ Gustav Flaubert

Here’s what I learned: First thing in the morning, before I have drowned myself in coffee, while I still have that sleepy brain I used to believe was useless — that is the best brain for creative writing. Words come pouring out easily while my head still feels as if it is full of ground fog, wrapped in flannel and gauze, and surrounded by a hive of humming, velvety sleep bees. ~ Merrill Markoe

Metaphors are not user-friendly. They’re difficult to find and difficult to use well. Unfortunately, metaphors are a mainstay of good lyric writing-indeed of most creative writing. …metaphors support lyrics like bones. ~ Pat Pattison

“Rule number one of creative writing is you have to have conflict. But if you write about yourself mostly, then if you don’t have conflict, then you create it.”

~ John Fulbright

To share our stories is not only a worthwhile endeavor for the storyteller, but for those who hear our stories and feel less alone because of it. ~ Joyce Maynard