Those are the days you love.
The days when somebody has to
wake you up and tell you where
you are. But there are a lot of
days when you’re just slogging
along. And you’re very conscious
of your stuff and the typewriter is
a machine and the paper is blank.
You’ve got to be willing to
put in those days in order to get
to the days when it’s flowing
like magic.

—Kathleen Paterson

Let the writer take up surgery
or bricklaying if he is interested
in technique. There is no
mechanical way to get the
writing done, no shortcut. The
young writer would be a fool
to follow a theory. Teach
yourself by your own mistakes;
people learn only by error.

―William Faulkner

I’m glad to report that even now,
at this late day, a blank sheet of
paper holds the greatest
excitement there is for me—
more promising than a silver
cloud, prettier than a little
red wagon. It holds all the
hope there is, all fears. I can
remember, really quite distinctly,
looking a sheet of paper square
in the eyes when I was seven or
eight years old and thinking,
“This is where I belong,
this is it.”

—E.B. White

I have learned that once you
understand that meanings are
in people [readers], you actually
write better. If you want them
to understand something your
way, you have to tell them
exactly how it is. If you leave it
up to them,
they will see it their own way.

—Former student of mine

I don’t write books,
I think it is a terrible business,
and a bad idea for most people—
but I do launch mission.

—Darren Hardy