Take Two Quotes and Call Me in the Morning
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I’ve added a new “quotes” page at the top of the blog. I’ll be updating it every so often. You can also access it under the “quote of the month” on the right side bar. All writer’s need a little help sometimes. Here are some quotes that I’ve collected over the years. Whenever I read them, I affirm my identity. I rekindle the fire, and find a way to push forward. I hope these can do the same for you.
“The mightiest works have been accomplished by men who have kept their ability to dream great dreams.” – Walter Bowie “It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.” – J.K. Rowling “Know how you’re going to end your story before you start writing; without a sense of direction, you can get lost in the middle.” Joan Nixon “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” - Albert Einstein “I would like to be remembered as someone who did the best she could with the talent she had.” – JK Rowling. “Character is fate. We learn about a character from the decisions he makes or fails to make.” - Nicholas Meyer, Screenwriter “Screenwriting books, like screenwriting classes, run the risk of becoming a substitute for writing” – Michael Hauge “It takes courage to be a writer. Courage to face yourself, work through your demons & make your art.” - Terry Rossio “I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.” - Lou Holtz “Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend to them than inspiration.” - Ralph Keyes “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” - Stephen King “The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It’s the lack of a deadline.” – Chris Baty 
“In order to write about life, first you must live it!” – Ernest Hemingway “It’s not the college degree that makes a writer. The great thing is to have a story to tell.” - Polly Adler “You accomplish victory step by step, not by leaps and bounds.” - Lyn St. James “You have to be brave to take out that white sheet of paper and put on it words that could be evidence of your stupidity.” - Sol Saks “Harry Potter is all about confronting fears… Twilight is how important it is to have a boyfriend. “ – Stephen King “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” - Robert Collier “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – J.K. Rowling “Find a good story and don’t be surprised if it takes you five years to get it off the ground.” –Brad Anderson “You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.” – Theodore Geisel, “DR. SEUSS” “A writer never has a vacation. For a writer, life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.” — Eugène Ionesco “Books aren’t written – they’re rewritten…It is one of the hardest things to accept.” - Michael Crichton 
“God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.” - Mother Teresa “Trouble in writing reflects troubled thinking, usually an incomplete grasp of the facts or their meaning.” – Barbara Tuchman “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” - H. Norman Schwarzkopf “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill “Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying.” – John Updike “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” - Dr. Robert Schuller “99% of success in life stems from just showing up.” – Woody Allan “Even without a religious perspective, love and compassion are clearly of fundamental importance to us all.” - Dali Lama “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” - Maya Angelou “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” - Vincent Van Gogh “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” – William James “You have brains in your head. Your feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” – Theodore Geisel, “DR. SEUSS” “Never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill “Nothing will come of nothing. Dare for mighty things.” – William Shakespeare “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” - Theodore Geisel, “DR. SEUSS” “Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.” - Neil Gaiman “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” – Stephen King 
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10 excuses I’ve used to avoid writing:
After nearly 6 years, I’ve finally managed to complete the screenplay I thought I’d never finish. The lack of updates over the last two months is a direct result of me concentrating my efforts on my script, but at long last it is finished!
With that said, ONTO THE NEXT ONE!
As I reflect on the reasons why it has taken me this long to complete my screenplay the thought donned on me. I have used the very excuses that I’ve been accusing others of making.
Here is the list of my worst habitual avoidance tactics:
1) “I don’t have any time right now”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Writers MAKE the time for their craft. If you find you can’t do that, then perhaps you should reconsider your profession. Just make the time and write.
2) “I don’t have any nice paper or pens write with, maybe I’ll drive to the store to buy some.”
I’ve literally spent many afternoons commuting into the city to buy some ‘premium’ paper, and ‘premium’ pens, only to waste large sums of money and time. Write on toilet paper if you have to. Just write.
3) “I don’t have a laptop to type with. Handwriting is so slow.”
This is such a piss-poor excuse, but I’ve used it a few times. Although the addition of my laptop has been an exceptional tool for my trade, I didn’t need one in order to write. If I had spent all the hours writing, instead of pining over having to ‘type’ on the old computer at home, I’d have finished several novels. Don’t be a nancy. Many great and famous writers dealt without having a top knotch computer in their possession. Just write.
4) “It’s too loud and distracting in my house. I can’t get any writing done being there.”
Then leave. Go for a walk. Call a friend or relative for a ride if you don’t have a car. Use the bus. Just get out of the house, and stop complaining. Just write.
5) “The power went out so I couldn’t type anything”
Poe, Aristotle, Abraham Lincoln, and Shakespeare wrote masterpeices with nothing but a feather. Don’t be an idiot. Writing by candlelight is one of the most gratifying experiences ever. Just write anyway.
6) “I can’t write. There’s too much going on, and I have enough stress to deal with in my life.”
Anne Frank managed to write in her diary during the freaking holocaust, and still managed to get an entire book’s worth of material before being murdered. Stop being a primadonna. Just write.
7) “I can’t afford to write. I have to work a full time job, and support my family.”
So did J.K. Rowling before inevidably quitting, and trusting in her craft. She didn’t have a pot to piss in before Bloomsberry finally picked up her first novel about a boy wizard. Find the time. Trust in your dreams, and write.
8) “Everything I write is crap anyway. So there’s no point.”
Some of the best writers deal with self doubt. Writing is rewriting. Find a way to push yourself, and keep going. If you don’t like what you’re writing, write until you do. Just write.
9) “I tried and failed. Nobody wants my book/screenplay. So why bother?”
Author Rex Pickett received over 70+ rejection letters for his work before his novel Sideways published. In 2004, Alexander Payne would win the oscar for best-adapted screenplay of Pickett’s Sideways. Pickett’s success would not have come had he given up on his craft. This is an important lesson for all writers. Learn from your rejections. Just keep writing.
10) “I don’t have anything unique to say.”
Everyone has at least one good story in them. Speak from the heart, and write what you enjoy.
I leave you now with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors.
“I would like to be remembered as someone who did the best she could with the talent she had.” – J.K. Rowling
