“When Words Are Scarce, They Are Seldom Spent in Vain”

For today's Word Up Wednesday, I'll be sharing some words of wisdom about writing.



E.L. Doctorow said:

"Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."

"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing."

"...I have to confess to having a certain bias for fiction, which I think of as a meta-discipline, one that can incorporate all the others. Whereas a journalist cannot go into someone's mind, and a scientist cannot use certain words that the theologian can use, and the theologian cannot or does not usually use the dirty words of the tabloids, the novelist can use all the words, all the vocabularies: myth, legend, history, confession, reportage, and the mutterings of the mad people in the street."

Martha Graham:

"No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive."

Donald Barthelme:

"Write about what you're afraid of.”

Terry Southern:

"The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock—shock is a worn-out word—but astonish. The world has no grounds whatever for complacency."

And last, one of my definite favorites:

Dana Marschz (Hamlet 2):

"Fuuuck. Writing is so hard."

Title Quote: The Bard :]