My students often told me they didn't have anything to say. They were silent. Empty. They felt anxiety. Panic. Terror. 'Good' I'd answer. 'You are a writer. You are at the place from which writing comes.'
-- Donald Murray in Shoptalk
A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
-- Thomas Mann
A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them.
-- William Stafford
You have to sink down to a level of hopelessness and desperation to find the book that you can write.
-- Susan Sontang
Re:More people should write
by mortenjorck on Sunday October 14, 2012 @01:32PM
(#4651967)
Utterly sterling selection of quotes there. The Stafford one resonates with me the most personally – I can't count the number of times I've realized a greater subtlety and complexity to my position on something after I've written a paragraph or so on it.
Re:More people should write
by winter_blue on Monday October 15, 2012 @04:35AM
(#4654238)
I totally agree, Stafford's quote is "par excellence"
The fact was, I didn't have anything really that great to say. So even if I had written stuff back then, I don't know if it would have enriched the lives of others as much as the writings of certain other people have.
Hm, whatever. Just my 2 cents. I'm probably wrong.