On Writing: Mostly Via Quotes
An exchange took place on Twitter recently, between myself and a few other “tweeps” (Twitter ‘peeps’, for those who don’t know ;-))
It went like this:
Opening quote: “There isn’t any secret. You sit down and you start and that’s it.” ~ Elmore Leonard
My reply: “Also, you then keep going, i.e. “The way is easy: keep going. The way is hard: keep going. Keep going.‘” ~ first heard from zen teacher Sensei Amala Wrightson (but it may have been a quote.)
Answering quote: “There’s a word for a writer who never quit: PUBLISHED.” ~ JA Konrath
Mind you, in response to the latter, Nick Mamatas has the following to say earlier this year, in a post titled “Ten Bits of Advice Writers Should Stop Giving Aspiring Writers”:
And yes, right there at No. 1 we have — Don’t Give Up:
“… Most people should give up. Find out whether someone has any potential first before arbitrarily telling someone to waste years of their lives, and worse, moments of the lives of editors who have to look at their nonsense.”
So there you are, dear Sunday readers, make of it what you will! 😀
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Personally though, I still *heart* last Sunday’s quote:
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit at the typewriter and bleed.”
– Ernest Hemingway
At the same time there are many imaginative potential writers that floundered because no one was there ro incourage.
But i suppose being a published writer is as sought after by the intelectual comunity as being on big brother is for the stupid one
Dean, I suspect that if a writer does not have the internal passion to “keep going” without external encouragement, then he/she will not “make it”, whatever his/her own definition of “making it” may be. External encouragement and the occasional “arise, sir writer” are great when they come along, but those who wait for them will indeed flounder. (And even when/if they do happen, they are defnitely the icing, not the cake.)