Life of a writer
“Writing isn’t generally a lucrative source of income; only a few, exceptional writers reach the income levels associated with the best-sellers. Rather, most of us write because we can make a modest living, or even supplement our day jobs, doing something about which we feel passionately. Even at the worst of times, when nothing goes right, when the prose is clumsy and the ideas feel stale, at least we’re doing something that we genuinely love. There’s no other reason to work this hard, except that love.”
~ Melissa Scott
“I don’t go back and look at my early work, because the last time I did, many years ago, it left me cringing. If one publishes, then one is creating a public record of Learning to Write.”
~ Lorrie Moore
“Writing is like sausage making in my view; you’ll all be happier in the end if you just eat the final product without knowing what’s gone into it.”
~ George R.R. Martin
“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot if difference. They don’t have to makes speeches. Just believing is usually enough.”
~ Stephen King, On Writing
“Have a working spouse, because you won’t earn a living from writing – not at first, if ever. My wife worked for years to support us.”
~ Piers Anthony
“What no wife of a writer can understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.”
~ Burton Rascoe
“…the vital point to remember is that the swine who just sent your pearl of a story back with nothing but a coffee-stain and a printed rejection slip can be wrong. You cannot take it for granted that he is wrong, but you have an all-important margin of hope that might be enough to keep you going.”
~ Brian Stableford
“The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.”
~ John Steinbeck
“Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.”
~ Jules Renard
“Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.”
~ Richard Curtis
Proof reading : the first draft is only the start
“There’s no such thing as a publishable first draft.”
~ William Targ
“I think the hardest part of writing is revising. And by that I mean the following: A novelist has to create the piece of marble and then chip away to find the figure in it.”
~ Chaim Potok
“Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it…”
~ Michael Crichton
“Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with the first draft to the point where one cannot change it is to greatly enhance the prospects of never publishing.”
~ Richard North Patterson
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.”
~ Stephen King
“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”
~ Saul Bellow
“Good novels are not written, they are rewritten. Great novels are diamonds mined from layered rewrites.”
~ Andre Jute
“Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.”
~ unknown
- Menu: Quotes for and about writers
- What make a writer?
- »» The writer’s life and proof reading
- Getting past writer’s block
- Characters, Style and Plot
- The importance of reading and research
- Misc !
