New Beginnings

Margaret Atwood's Advice to Writers

As for writing, most people secretly believe they themselves

have a book in them,

which they would write if they could only find the time.

And there’s some truth to this notion.

A lot of people do have a book in them –

that is, they have had an experience that

other people might want to read about.

But this is not the same as “being a writer.”

Or, to put it in a more sinister way:

everyone can dig a hole in a cemetery,

but not everyone is a grave-digger.

The latter takes a good deal more stamina and persistence.

~ Margaret Atwood

For motivation to write despite feelings of self-doubt, insecurity, fear, or despair, read 73 Ways to Fire Up (or Just Fire!) the Muse.

For more writing quotations and writing tips, visit Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

Writing Quotations - Mark Twain

These writing quotations from Mark Twain begin with my favorite Twain quip...which isn't about writing, but I couldn't resist...

“A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on..." ~ Mark Twain.

"Well, my book is written - let it go. But if it were only to write over again there wouldn't be so many things left out. They burn in me; and they keep multiplying; but now they can't ever be said. And besides, they would require a library - and a pen warmed up in hell." ~ Letter to W. D. Howells, 22 Sept 1889.

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." ~ Mark Twain

"I wrote the rest of The Innocents Abroad in sixty days and I could have added a fortnight's labor with the pen and gotten along without the letters altogether. I was very young in those days, exceedingly young, marvelously young, younger than I am now, younger than I shall ever be again, by hundreds of years. I worked every night from eleven or twelve until broad daylight in the morning, and as I did 200,000 words in the sixty days, the average was more than 3,000 words a day - nothing for Sir Walter Scott, nothing for Louis Stevenson, nothing for plenty of other people, but quite handsome for me. In 1897, when we were living in Tedworth Square, London, and I was writing the book called Following the Equator, my average was 1,800 words a day; here in Florence (1904) my average seems to be 1,400 words per sitting of four or five hours." ~ Autobiography of Mark Twain.

"Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very;" your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." ~ Mark Twain

"You need not expect to get your book right the first time. Go to work and revamp or rewrite it. God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention. These are God's adjectives. You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by." ~ Letter to Orion Clemens, 23 March 1878.

"The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say." ~ Mark Twain's Notebook, 1902-1903.

"To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas - the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph." ~ Letter to Emeline Beach, 10 Feb 1868.

"As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out." ~ Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894. (This is one of my favorite writing quotations from Mark Twain -- I revere concise writing).

"Let us guess that whenever we read a sentence & like it, we unconsciously store it away in our model-chamber; & it goes, with the myriad of its fellows, to the building, brick by brick, of the eventual edifice which we call our style." ~ Letter to George Bainton, 15 Oct 1888.

"I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English - it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them - then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice." ~ Letter to D. W. Bowser, 20 March 1880.

"We write frankly and fearlessly but then we "modify" before we print." ~ Life on the Mississippi.

If you want to add more writing quotations from Mark Twain -- or any quotations at all! -- please do so below...

For more writing quotations -- and writing tips -- visit Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

How to Support Your Writing Spouse, Partner, or Child

Thanks for stopping in!

This blog has found a new home:

Quips & Tips for Successful Writers

Hope to see you there, fellow scribes…

Writing Tips

Thanks for stopping in!

This blog has found a new home:

Quips & Tips for Successful Writers

Hope to see you there, fellow scribes…

How to Cope With the Insecurities of Freelance Writing

Thanks for stopping! To read this post, please visit me at my new and improved site:

Quips & Tips for Freelance Writers -- which is under construction.

Hope to see you there, fellow scribes…

Tips My Reader’s Digest Editor

Thanks for stopping! To read this post, please visit me at my new and improved site:

Quips & Tips for Freelance Writers.

Hope to see you there, fellow scribes…