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
writing tips
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Jane Hirshfield on Concentration
“In the wholeheartedness of concentration, world and self begin to cohere. With that state comes an enlarging: of what may be known, what may be felt, what may be done.” ~ Jane Hirshfield
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
Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is. ~ 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 on meditation
The book or story shapes up — assumes its own specific form, that is — during a process of meditation that is the second stage in composition. ~ Malcolm Cowley
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 #5 of 6
Writing is about learning to pay attention and to communicate what is going on. ~ Anne Lamott
