I am always chilled and astonished
by the would-be writers who ask
me for advice and admit,
quite blithely, that they “don’t have
time to read.” This is like a guy
starting up Mount Everest saying
that he didn’t have time to buy
any rope or pitons.

―Stephen King

It’s easier to persist
with commas if you know
you’re engaged in some
fundamentally important
human activity that has
very great consequences
for your full development
as a human being.

—Charles Cooper

Don’t say the
old lady screamed.
Bring her in and
let her scream.

—Mark Twain

The good artist
believes that nobody
is good enough to give
him advice. He has
supreme vanity.
No matter how much
he admires the old
writer, he wants
to beat him.

―William Faulkner

It’s a great lesson
about not being
too precious about
your writing. . . .
You can’t be that kid 
standing at the top of
the waterslide,
overthinking it. . . .
You have to let people
see what you wrote.
―Tina Fey

I write to give myself strength.
I write to be the characters
I am not. I write to explore all
of the things I am afraid of.

—Joss Whedon

Once when I was flying to Dallas with Zig Ziglar, he asked if I ever received letters from people thanking me. When I acknowledged that I did, he asked, “When you get those letters, what do people thank you for?” I had never really thought about that before, but the answer was clear. People almost always said thanks for a book I had written or some other resource I had provided. 
“It’s the same for me,” Zig said. “Isn’t that interesting? You and I are known for being speakers, but that’s not what prompts people to write.”

—John Maxwell

Carve out a regular
“writing time” and
don’t make excuses.
If you can’t commit 
to your own writing,
why should anyone
else commit to it?

—Val McDermid

Don’t rewrite as you
go. Don’t try to make
your first chapters
perfect. If you come
to a scene where you
don’t know what
14th-century 
underwear looks 
like, don’t stop
and research 
14th-century
underwear.
Just write 
‘underwear here.’ 
The second draft 
is filling in 
those holes.
—Laurell K. Hamilton

Find your best time
of the day for writing
and write. Don’t let
anything else 
interfere. Afterwards
it won’t matter to 
you that the
kitchen is a mess.

—Esther Freud

Almost all good 
writing begins
with terrible 
first efforts.
You need to 
start somewhere.

—Anne Lamott