Writing Quotes

All authors know that any book is a casting of runes, a reading of cards, a map of the palm and heart. We make up the ocean - then fall in. But we also write the life raft.

Erica Jong
- Heart
- Book
- Reading
You get used to the exact amount of space between lines. You write a word and then you write an alternate word over it. You want enough room so you can read it, so the lines can't be too close.

Stephen Sondheim
- Space
- Enough
- Lines

When an editor first explained to me the difference between direct and indirect writing, I just thought it was a stylistic choice.

Alice Mattison
A day without writing was a little death.

Ray Bradbury
- Writing
- Littles
I think by definition you need to have lived a little bit to write anything that's humanly true.

Richard K. Morgan
Read Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don't really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, "how to" books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise.

Hilary Mantel
- Book
- Hate
- Morning
The writing that most interests me isn't about narcos or sicarios or police or whatever. It's about the victims and the survivors, and about the suffering and trauma that so many in Mexico and Central America endure, and that is all around us whether we notice it or not.

Francisco Goldman
- Suffering
- Victim
- Trauma
On a piece of paper, write down the thing that is stressing you, the obstacle that is in your way. Then put it in a box and just leave it there. At the end of about a week, dispose of it - throw it in the trash or bury it - some sort of ritualistic act of releasing it.

Gabrielle Bernstein
- Writing
- Stress
- Pieces