Elizabeth V.

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Elizabeth V.

The eulogy got a round of applause. Pastor said she had never, ever, seen that happen before. Thank you.

Do not place a photograph of your favorite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.

Roddy Doyle

Socially, a journalist fits in somewhere between a whore and a bartender. But spiritually he stands beside Galileo. He knows the world is round.

Sherman Reilly Duffy

If you haven’t got an idea, start a story anyway. You can always throw it away, and maybe by the time you get to the fourth page you will have an idea, and you’ll only have to throw away the first three pages.

William C. Gault

The fact is, I don’t know where my ideas come from. Nor does any writer. The only real answer is to drink way too much coffee and buy yourself a desk that doesn’t collapse when you beat your head against it.

Douglas Adams

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

Robert A. Heinlein

I get up in the morning, torture a typewriter until it screams, then stop.

Clarence Budington Kelland

I haven’t got 10 rules that guarantee success, though I promise I’d share them if I did. The truth is that I found success by stumbling off alone in a direction most people thought was a dead end, breaking all the 1990s shibboleths about children’s books in the process.

J.K. Rowling

Thank your readers and the critics who praise you, and then ignore them. Write for the most intelligent, wittiest, wisest audience in the universe: Write to please yourself.

Harlan Ellison

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

Thomas Jefferson

Reading and weeping opens the door to one’s heart, but writing and weeping opens the window to one’s soul.

M. K. Simmons

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

Mickey Spillane

Every writer with half a brain knows to surround himself or herself with editors who are smarter, far more articulate and infinitely better looking.

Chris Claremont

Don’t annoy an author, you’ll end up in their book and you won’t look good.

Lawrence Wray

It’s an accepted fact that all writers are crazy; even the normal ones are weird.

William Goldman

Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river.

Lisa See

I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.

Tom Clancy

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.

Matthew Arnold

Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.

Edward Albee

I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.

Roald Dahl

Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.