207 Salient Quotes About Writing

Words create worlds.

I write not because I want to but because I am destined to.

Writing starts with living.

My most important advice to writers is butt in chair!

An aspiring writer should write one time and edit ten times.

Only bad writers think that their work is really good.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.

Keep your hands moving. Writing is rewriting.

There is no perfect time to write. There's only now.

Always be a poet, even in prose.

Get into the scene late, get out of the scene early.

Writing well is the best revenge.

The best writing is rewriting.

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head.

Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself.

Writers who don't write weekly, write weakly.

Writing makes you more human.

Writing is nothing more than a guided dream.

The great art of writing is knowing when to stop.

Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.

About clichés. Avoid them like the plague.

There is no good writing; there is only good rewriting.

You have to write the book that wants to be written.

Writing poetry is a state of free float.

If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.

Look for verbs of muscle, adjectives of exactitude.

My pen beats faster as I write with my heart.

Breathe in experience, breathe out poetry.

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.

Content, in writing, is supreme.

Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action.

Tell a story in fewer and simpler words.

Each book starts from ashes.

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

Reading is probably what leads most writers to writing.

Good writing is rewriting.

Writing is the supreme solace.

Hard writing makes easy reading.

Read, read read. Read everything.

Writing is exposing yourself to strangers.

Writing is the hardest physical work there is.

The core of my writing is not art but truth.

When the lyrical muse sings the creative pen dances.

Just keep the stylus moving.

Be prepared to work hard to be a writer.

The writer's duty is to keep on writing.

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

Good writing is always new.

Go where the pain is, go where the pleasure is.

Writing is a lonely profession.

The book doesn't end when you finish writing it.

Good writing is everything.

So what? All writers are lunatics!

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

Writing is a delicious agony.

A lot of writing is thinking.

There is a kind of mysticism to writing.

I write to be the characters that I am not.

When in doubt, blow something up.

Writing is the process of asking the next logical question.

Be unpredictable, Be Real, Be Interesting. Tell a good story.

Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.

Writing is inherently scary.

Writing is a conviction before it is a craft.

Writing stories is the habit of lying put to good use.

Give me good writing, and I'll play it all day.

Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

Don't take anyone's writing advice too seriously.

Writing is a form of licensed madness.

Being a writer is not the point. Writing is.

Every writer has to find their own way into writing.

Writing is hard, hard work; that's just the way it is.

Writing is my salvation. If I didn't write, what would I do?

Writing is rewriting what you have rewritten.

Best advice on writing I've ever received. Finish.

Writing is the beast unto itself.

Creative writing and literacy go hand and hand.

What writing does is to reveal.

Writing is an incessant process of discovery.

All good writing comes out of aloneness.

Writing is a lonely business.

Writing is an antidote for loneliness.

Writing is a struggle no matter what the genre.

Writing is a communication.

Few writers are willing to admit writing is autobiographical.

Omit needless words.

Vigorous writing is concise.

Getting even is one reason for writing.

Writing is 1 percent inspiration, and 99 percent elimination.

Writing. Love is writing.

Writing is easy. Writing well is hard work.

Anyone who says writing is easy isn't doing it right.

Endings are the embryos of new beginnings.

Sometimes we have to break down to break through.

Writing heals my heart like no pill ever could.

Poetic license is not a license to scribe recklessly.

Writing fiction is fundamentally an irrational act.

Conflict. Conflict. Where art thou conflict?

Modernity of form is the style of old fogies yet to be.