Quotes About Writing Quotes

“Journal writing gives us insights into who we are, who we were, and who we can become.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“For writers who knowingly lie, for those who substitute unbelievable human behavior for the way people really act, I have nothing but contempt. Bad writing is more than a matter of shit syntax and faulty observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do—to face the fact, let us say, that murderers sometimes help old ladies cross the street.
…The people in these stories are not without hope, but they acknowledge that even our fondest hopes (and our fondest wishes for our fellowmen and the society in which we live) may sometimes be vain. Often, even. But I think they also say that nobility most fully resides not in success but in trying to do the right thing… and that when we fail to do that, or willfully turn away from the challenge, hell follows.”
― Stephen King, Full Dark, No Stars

“When I look back on my personal story through my journals, it struck me my words had an unmatched power to heal me. To change me.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Writing is a beautiful way to let out pain. When you put your story out there, you release it. Once it is no longer buried or stuck within you, you are free to move forward.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“To be successful you must be unique, you must be so different that if people want what you have, they must come to you to get it.”
― Walt Disney

“Retrograde mercury is the only enemy that writers have.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“The pieces are there, but no way he can put them together until this job is done. According to William Wordsworth, the best writing is about strong emotion recalled in tranquility. Billy has lost his tranquility.”
― Stephen King, Billy Summers

“They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. But if there's a shirtless guy on your cover, or your title includes the words billionaire, alpha-male, werewolf or werebear, your "book" is probably a pile of unimaginative, derivative drivel devoid of a single original thought. Yet another poorly written romance clone the world didn't need.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“99% of self-published authors will never make any money with their books.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, The Ugly Truth About Self-Publishing: Not another cookie-cutter contemporary romance

“Our stories are by nature problem-solving tools, and we are problem-solving beings.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Our lives hang on narrative thread. . . Our world is shaped by the stories we tell ourselves -- what we believe about our lives and what we hold to be true about our world.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Our life-defining stories matter. We need to find them and tell them -- or write them.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Life is beautiful, and my words have allowed me to find and revel in that beauty.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Changing our perspectives allows us to shift from the mental trap of rumination -- or ruination -- to the empowerment of reflection.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Writing allows us to get the painful experiences out and find a framework in which to understand and live with them.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Our words can lead us down a path of renewal and increased personal fulfillment.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Successfully writing our way through our hardships allows us to rediscover and fully experience our creativity.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Our story is the medium we use to interpret our life experiences and make sense of them.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Our writing can transform us.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“When troubled, we need to burrow down in a comfy spot, find the form of words that works best, and write.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Writing down the self in a journal holds many benefits for us, so find your unique pattern, discover your practice, and just do it -- write.”
― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

“Writing is pure bliss! Seeing how the words flow from my hand onto paper and shape each chapter is mesmerizing”
― Sandra Cooze, Journey to Your Self - How to Heal from Trauma: Written by Someone Who Did

“My every book is a dwelling for my thoughts, memories, discoveries, and ideas.”
― Sahara Sanders, Indigo Diaries: A Series of Novels

“Every authentic book is a home for an author’s memories, thoughts, discoveries, and ideas.”
― Sahara Sanders, Indigo Diaries: A Series of Novels

“Dear Writer,
Sometimes we treat the negative voices in your head - the ones who say we can’t do this writing thing, we’re not as good as so-and-so, nobody will read what we write - as if they are voices that deserve respect.

As if they speak from some great authority & know what is true.

As if they don’t take our silence as tacit acceptance of their whispers to hammer away at our deepest insecurities.

To hell with that.

You tell that voice that she’s had her turn, it’s no longer her time. It’s time to shut the hell up & be quiet for once. Life is too short - & your art too precious - to waste it on bullies.

Make no mistake, she IS a bully. Ignoring bullies makes them louder, more insistent on getting in your face & shutting you down.

No more.

Fact. Bullies don’t speak truth from a place of power, but they are really good at convincing us that they do.

They actually just hone in on our weaknesses with extraordinary precision and speak lies from a place of false bravado.

They expect us not to talk back, gain their power by our acceptance of their words. When we don’t speak they take that as permission to get louder.

Not this time.

This time you stop & write down what the voice is saying. Then you cross that shit out with the biggest, blackest marker you can find and tell her she needs to listen.

This time, you talk back, draw yourself up to the fullness of your power. Root down into the depth of your truth. Coax that flame in your belly until you feel it fire up your whole being.
Then you tell her YOUR truth. In writing, so it won’t be forgotten.

Tell her she’s wasting time. That you’ve got art to make. That you’re done with her lies & attempts to undermine your power & silence the stories that live inside you. Tell her whatever the hell you want, but do it with all of you. Be willing to go past what you even believe and have your own back this time. Write exactly the words you need to say, which also happen to be exactly the words that you need to hear.

And then be done with it. And write. After all, that voice wouldn’t ever be this loud if she didn’t know you had something important to say.

So say it, writer. The world is waiting for you.”
― Jeanette LeBlanc

“One thing editing has proven is that I may misplace my modifiers but I don't dangle my participles.”
― Barry Finlay

“Everything was malleable. The mind could build a city, remodel it, then raze it, all while you were taking a shower or shaving or having a piss. Once you began, however, that changed. Every scene you wrote, every word you wrote, limited your options a little more. Eventually you were like a cow trotting down a narrow chute with no exit, trotting toward the—”
― Stephen King, Rat

“Poetry is like stargazing. We all look at the same stars, but each of us connects them into our own unique constellations of words.”
― Sidhant Sharma

“Writing is like food for my soul. It gives my overactive mind
something to chew and allows my body to digest the trauma it's
been through.”
― Katalina Evergold, Queen of the Pale Woods

“When you create a genre—which is not a movement—because it has no past—and if it has a past—its past is pregnant with a future bigger than its past—its past is its post-creation—only a point of departure—it created modes of thinking. A genre has in itself movements, generations—and after all these concepts expire in time—the genre—that is an artifact—that is a fact made shift—it doesn’t belong to a date—it is not dated—it includes all the expirations that expire in its belly—and it is still pregnant with new beginnings.”
― Giannina Braschi, Putinoika