Edie's Favorite "Writing" Quotes

Here are a few statements that never fail to inspire me when I sit down to write:

"If a story is in you, it has got to come out." William Faulkner

"Fact and fiction [are] both truths of life." Patricia MacLachlan

"I always write for the child in me, and she is still in there." Katherine Paterson

"What you forget goes into the compost of the imagination... Your past is full of stories that have been composed in a certain way; that's what memories are. But only when they decompose are you able to recompose them into new works of art."
Graham Greene

And this is something that our own Christy Hale said when we were posting on the topic of revision. I taped it next to my computer to keep me plugging away at the first draft of a novel.

"It's easier to improve imperfect jottings than to wait for perfection before beginning." Christy Hale

Carmen "T"'s Favorite Quote

Each chapter of Susan Fletcher's Shadow Spinner begins with "Lessons for Life and Storytelling." This is among my most favorite lessons in the book:

"In the old tales, there is power in words. Words are what you use to summon a jinn, or to open an enchanted door, or to cast a spell. You can do everything else perfectly, but if don't say the right words, it won't work.

"If you know how to use words, you don't have to be strong enough to wield a scimitar or have armies at your command.

"Words are how the powerless can have power."


Susan Fletcher's newest book, Ancient, Strange, and Lovely, is part of her dragon chronicles.

Quotes

"There are good books which are only for adults.
There are no good books which are only for children."
- W. H. Auden

The following quote I have hanging on my wall, and the older I get, the more I find it to be true:

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
- Plato

ACT NOW

One must learn to bear with oneself.
—Henrí de Toulouse-Lautrec

No, I must keep to my own style and

go on in my own way; and though I

may never succeed again in that, I am

convinced that I should totally fail in

any other.

—Jane Austen

No man who values originality will ever

be original. But try to tell the truth as you

see it, try to do any bit of work as well as

it can be done for the work's sake, and

what men call originality will come unsought.

—C.S. Lewis

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy,

the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (or creation)

there is one elementary truth, the ignorance

of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

that the moment one definitely commits onself,

then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would

otherwise have never occurred. A whole stream

of events issues from the decisions raising in

one’s favor all manner of incidents and meetings

and material assistance which no man would have

believed would have come his way. Whatever

you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it.

Action has magic, grace and power in it.
—Goethe

Quotes from Stephanie

This round is about some of our favorite inspirational quotes about writing...or maybe about life in general. I want to share four. This first one applies so well to writing picture books, especially since mine are often below 500 words apiece, and I share it often when I do school programs:

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bug. Mark Twain


This one reminds me of my priorities:

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
Henry David Thoreau

This one I strive for:

The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.
Anais Nin

And this, by my favorite writer, is always in the back of my head when I write novels:

The road to hell is paved with adverbs.

Stephen King