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

You can’t edit a 
blank page.

― Nora Roberts

Presently you shall walk out the door that for so long has seemed to you the barrier of your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience—the pen still behind your ear, the ink stains on your fingers, and then and there shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration.

—Stanton Kirkham Davis

Be tough—
you need to be able to accept criticism,
if you expect to become a better writer;
when you know you’re right,
you need to be able to reject it
and stick to your own vision.

—Judith Guest

Try to write something
every day.

—Roger Zelazny

Don’t compare yourself with others
except to learn from them—
compete only with yourself,
maintaining the highest standards
of excellence with yourself.

—Rosemary Daniell