– Donald Harrington (via writersrelief)
"If you are destined to become a writer, you can’t help it. If you can help it, you aren’t destined to become a writer. The frustrations and disappointments, not even to mention the unspeakable loneliness, are too unbearable for anyone who doesn’t have a deep sense of being unable to avoid writing."
(Source: martinaboone)
(Source: amandaonwriting, via writersrelief)
"The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write."
– Ernest Gaines (via writersrelief)
"In fiction, I exercise my nosiness. I am as curious as my cats, and indeed that has led to trouble often enough and used up several of my nine lives. I am an avid listener. I am fascinated by other people’s lives, the choices they make and how that works out through time, what they have done and left undone, what they tell me and what they keep secret and silent, what they lie about and what they confess, what they are proud of and what shames them, what they hope for and what they fear. The source of my fiction is the desire to understand people and their choices through time."
– Marge Piercy (via writersrelief)
"Don’t expect the puppets of your mind to become the people of your story. If they are not realities in your own mind, there is no mysterious alchemy in ink and paper that will turn wooden figures into flesh and blood."
– Leslie Gordon Barnard (via writersrelief)
"Keep a diary, but don’t just list all the things you did during the day. Pick one incident and write it up as a brief vignette. Give it color, include quotes and dialogue, shape it like a story with a beginning, middle and end—as if it were a short story or an episode in a novel. It’s great practice. Do this while figuring out what you want to write a book about. The book may even emerge from within this running diary."
– John Berendt (via martinaboone)
Huffington Post/Writer's Relief's Writer Wednesday: "10 Ways To Annoy Literary Agents"
In the tradition of David Letterman’s Late Show Top Ten, the submission strategists at Writer’s Relief want to share their expertise on what you should avoid when submitting your book to literary agents.
(insert drum roll here)
(Source: littlemissmomma.com, via writersrelief)
"Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration."
– Ralph Keyes (via writersrelief)
Writer's Relief Blog: "Five Signs You May Be Sabotaging Your Writing Career"
Many professional writers credit their success to both hard work and to being in the right place at the right time (note: Writer’s Relief can help with the latter!). But sometimes, being in the right place and working hard simply aren’t enough. Unless you’re truly open to success, you’ll have stacked the deck against yourself even before the cards are dealt! Here are five signs that you might be self-sabotaging your own writing career.
