” A word after a word after a word is power”

~ Margaret Atwood

~*~

Kate Forsyth identifies this as one of her favourite writing quotes and it does resonate with me as well. Especially right now when “a word after a word after a word” is exactly how I’m getting the work-in-progress and WALL series done — as discussed in the “mini update” two weeks ago.

I would probably add that the words need to be to some purpose, but I don’t think there’s any doubt of that in the case of either Margaret Atwood or Kate Forsyth. 😀

This quote does remind me of the very famous quote from Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

I’ve often thought how apt this is in relation to writing books, which begin and end with a single word — but Margaret Atwood is quite right that the journey between the two is the business of “a word after a word after a word.”

And when they all hang together to good effect, i.e. they reach their final form of Coleridge’s “words in their best order”, then yep, there is a power in that — if only in the author’s heart and mind. 😉

Proof manuscript