Quotes to Encourage You in Your Writing

DIYAuthor.com has compiled a list of great quotes from a range of writers. We have borrowed from their article in the hope these quotes will encourage and/or inspire you. As you look over the list below, you may find names of individuals with whom you disagree on key points of life. That’s okay! Our goal here is to help you think, to challenge you to expand your world and develop the creativity God has given you. If you’re searching for inspiration and creativity, a substantive quote, especially from a heretic, may be just what the doctor ordered. So read, ponder, get out of bed! In the ever authoritative words of Winnie-the-Pooh, “Think! Think! Think!”


“The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.” – Ursula K. Le Guin


“Bad things don’t happen to writers; it’s all material.” – Garrison Keillor


“Everyone has a story to tell.” – Zetta Elliot


“Find your niche, and then go even more niche.” – Joe Pulizzi


“You can fix anything but a blank page.” – Nora Roberts


“Writing well means never having to say, ‘I guess you had to be there.'” – Jef Mallett


“Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose – not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember.” – Anne Sullivan Macy


“You have to understand that nothing appeals to everybody.” – Gene Simmons


“When I sit down to write, I don’t think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.” – Jhumpa Lahiri


“Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. Pretend you are writing to each of them a letter…” – David Ogilvy


“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” – Anne Lamott


“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” – Stephen King


“Don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.” – Pearl S. Buck


“Why waste a sentence saying nothing?” – Seth Godin


“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” – Barbara Kingsolver


“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” – Richard Bach


“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” – Jane Yolen


“[A] quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business.” A.A. Milne

Leave a Comment