These are all based on Anonymous Quotes
“After all, life is really simple; we ourselves create the circumstances that complicate it.” (Some of the best poems and stories have simple constructions)
–Anonymous
“We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.” (Sounds like one of my query letters)
–Anonymous
“Without communication there is no relationship. Without respect there is no love. Without trust there is no reason to continue.” (You can’t connect to your reader unless you write to him. If they don’t respect your character, they won’t enjoy her. If they don’t trust you they won’t finish the book)
–Anonymous
“You can tell more about a person by what he [the character] says about others than you can by what others say about him.”
–Anonymous
“Silence is often misinterpreted but never misquoted.” (I love the pregnant pause)
–Anonymous
“Our character [in the story] is what we do when we think no one is looking.” (This is sort of related to show not tell)
–Anonymous
“Good habits are formed; bad habits we fall into.” (Writing discipline)
–Anonymous
“Maturity is not when we start speaking big things.
It is when we start understanding small things.” (Writing to our Audience)
–Anonymous
“If a problem can be solved, there is nothing to worry about. If it can’t be solved, worrying will do no good.” (Some story characters can’t resolve their conflicts)
–Anonymous
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” (A good thought when creating a hero for your story)
–Anonymous
“Just because something is common sense doesn’t mean it’s common practice.” (What’s practical is not always what’s right?)
–Anonymous
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
(Famous quote attributed to Einstein. Take criticism about your work. Don’t be so stubborn.)
–Anonymous
“Giving up [on a thoroughly rejected story or a book] doesn’t always mean you are weak … sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.”
–Anonymous
Take risks.
If you win
you will be happy.
If you lose,
you will be wise. –Anonymous
“Life’s Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” (At least mine)
–Anonymous
“Most obstacles melt away when you decide to walk boldly through them.” (The new writer’s mantra)
–Anonymous
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” (So, what if I have two mantras)
–Anonymous
“The difference between who you are and what you want to be is what you do.” (Start improving your writing skills)
–Anonymous
“. . . life spent making mistakes is not only most honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” (Sounds like a writer)
–Anonymous
“Not all those who wonder are lost.” (Go with the flow. Float down the stream of creativity)
–Anonymous
“There are people who make things happen, those who watch what happens, and those who wonder what happened.” (Come on now. Some of us must start as readers )
–Anonymous
“Every success is built on the ability to do better than good enough.” (This is why we’re doing all this re-writing?)
–Anonymous
“Never be afraid to try something new remember amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.” (And Frank Herbert’s book “Dune” was rejected over 21 times)
–Anonymous
“Overthinking, the art of creating problems that weren’t even there” (How our writing gets messed up)
–Anonymous
“Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” (Write in your own pond. Don’t try to be Toni Morrison, or Norman Mailer, or William Faulkner.)
–Anonymous
“Don’t mind criticism. If it is untrue, disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation; if it is ignorant, smile; if it is justified it is not criticism, learn from it.” (Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference. But you can learn from all of it)
–Anonymous
“Imagination was given man to compensate for what he is not, and a sense of humor to console him for what he is.” (They also work well for writers)
–Anonymous
Toni Morrison
“Teaching is about taking things apart; writing is about putting things together.”
–Toni Morrison
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”
–Toni Morrison