The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past where time hovers ghostlike.
Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come by.
Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) was an American author who is best known for INVISIBLE MAN, which earned a National Book Award in 1953.
World’s complexity
Simplicity seeks appeal—
Enters writer’s mind
Each crafted arrow
Filling this writer’s quiver—
Lasting prose awaits
Enlightened verses
Expressions of flowing waves—
Poet captures life
Good fiction creates its own reality.
You can’t edit a blank page.
Nora Roberts (born 1950) is an American author who has written well over 200 romance novels. She has also written under the pseudonyms of Jill March and Sarah Hardesty.
Writing bridges the inner and outer worlds and connects the paths of action and reflection.
Story is the mother of us all, for we become who we say we are.
Christina Baldwin (born 1946) is an American writer, teacher, and lecturer.
Lying awake in bed, feeling ready to write
Morning light feeling much too bright
Searching in my head for ideas to write about
Will today’s words offer and deliver much clout?
Sitting, thinking, and sitting . . . nothing!
Why can’t my mind create something?
Perhaps more coffee will warm up my mind
Hoping that possible ideas may soon be mine
Do all writers usually feel this way?
With little or nothing to really say
Hunger offers quick, necessary break
Nutritious breakfast, now I will make
Finished eating and returning to my writing table
Satisfied appetite doesn’t make me anymore able
Struggling through another writer’s block
Tired eyes continue watching the ticking clock
Wow! This short poem I now create
Finally, fulfilling my writer’s fate
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.
Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.
I consider a story merely as a frame on which to stretch my materials.
Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small and laughter abundant.
Writing becomes treasured hobby
Writing ‘the’ book, will anyone read?
Writing each hour, quitting day job
Writing chapters with epic speed
Waiting for magic, keyboard sleeps
Waiting for inspiration’s nudge
Waiting for publisher to call
Waiting for something bold, oh fudge!
Overlooking advice from friends
Overlooking cover’s design
Overlooking shrinking cash flow
Overlooking final deadline
Spending phantom cash, much too fast
Spending less and less time writing
Spending more and more time dreaming
Spending months on nothing exciting
Pushing aside all of these thoughts
Focusing on fresh start at hand
Crafting poetry, something new
Writing ‘the’ book, no longer planned
Advice to a new writer: There are no rules in this profession. In your writing, go where the pain is; where the pleasure is; go where the excitement is.
To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.
Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare–and precious as a pearl.
Poetry is a form of mathematics, a highly rigorous relationship with words.
Tahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan-born novelist and poet. Living in Paris, his published works are written in French. His writings have been honored with numerous awards, and he was nominated for a Noble Prize in Literature
Big Sky Buckeye 