“Somebody said that writers are like otters… Otters, if they do a trick and you give them a fish, the next time they’ll do a better trick or a different trick because they’d already done that one. And writers tend to be otters. Most of us get pretty bored doing the same trick. We’ve done it, so let’s do something different.”
~Neil Gaiman
“Writing is always a process of discovery—I never know the end, or even the events on the next page, until they happen. There’s a constant interplay between the imagining and shaping of the story.”
~Kim Edwards
“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
~E.L. Doctorow
“The character that lasts is an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities.”
—Raymond Chandler
“When I graduated from high school I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library 3 days a week for 10 years.”
—Ray Bradbury
Our culture is all about comparison, conformity, and control. Don’t give in to that pressure. Creativity isn’t meant to be a mouthpiece for what’s popular. It’s meant to be light—not a mirror. May your art be a voice in the wilderness. May it break through the matrix. Stay true.
~ Allen Arnold on Twitter (@TheStoryofWith)
If we study our own history, we find that we have always been ready to receive the unfortunates from other countries, and though this may seem a generous gesture on our part, we have profited a thousand fold by what they have brought us.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I like everything that’s old; old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.
~Oliver Goldsmith
