accepting your writer's mind

Writing quotation: “We need to learn to accept our minds. Believe me, for writing, it is all we have,” says Natalie Goldberg. “It would be nice if I could have Mark Twain’s mind, but I don’t. Mark Twain is Mark Twain. Natalie Goldberg is Natalie Goldberg.”

You know, I don’t think it would be nice if Natalie Goldberg had Mark Twain’s mind. Then we’d have less originality, less creativity – and we’d have more writers doing the same thing. Don't get me wrong - Twain is amazing - but maybe it's better to have different minds creating different worlds.

Writing tip: When you compare yourself to any other writer – whether it’s Joan Didion or Stephen King – you chip away at your self-confidence. You smother your writing style.

When you accept your mind, you express your thoughts without judging or censoring them. You write, and send out your ideas, and participate in the writer’s life. When you accept your mind you realize your originality and creativity: nobody has ideas like yours. Develop them.

This writing quotation came from Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life.

writing quotations about editing

“Revision is a lot like housecleaning. It’s dirty and overwhelming when you face off with the entire job. It would be easier just to dust the surfaces and sweep the dirt into the corners rather than do a thorough job,” says Jordan E. Rosenfeld in the February 2008 issue of Writer’s Digest.

Writers such as Joan Didion and Roald Dahl describe the writing process in a slightly different way.

Writing quotation: “My writing is a process of rewriting, of going back and changing and filling in. In the rewriting process you discover what’s going on, and you go back and bring it up to that point. Sometimes you’ll just push through, indicate a scene or a character, leave a space, then go back later and fill it in,” says Joan Didion.

Roald Dahl puts it this way: “By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.”

Writing tip: Even though editing your writing is worse than housecleaning (it’s a common habit to get distracted with housework to avoid actually writing), revision is obviously imperative to good writing. Approach it like you do with any task you dislike: promise you’ll only do it for 15 minutes or half an hour. If you’re still into it, keep going.

Before you know it, your first or second draft is revised. Then you can begin polishing the next one. C'mon, you know you wanna.

These writing quotations came from Shoptalk: Learning to Write With Writers by Donald Murray.

Ephron & Didion's writing tips about leads

Nora Ephron writes movies, articles, books and essays. If you haven't read her stuff, you've probably seen her movies, which include When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. Ephron can be the source of many writing inspirations and writing tips.

About writing leads, Ephron says:

"I don't write a word of the article until I have the lead. It just sets the whole tone - the whole point of view. I know exactly where I'm going as soon as I have the lead."

Joan Didion adds her two cents with this writing quotation:

"What's so hard about the first sentence is that you're stuck with it. Everything else is going to flow out of that sentence. And by the time you've laid down the first two sentences, your options are all gone."

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Writing tip: If writing your lead first works for you, then take Ephron and Didion's advice. If, however, you need to write the whole piece before you write your lead, then good on ya. Yo be a great writer, you have to do what feels natural.

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These great writing quotations are from Shoptalk: Learning to Write With Writers by Donald Murray, which has hundreds of writing ideas, writing habits, and writing inspirations.