You would not be a writer if you didn’t go through bouts of forgetfulness. Not forgetfulness when it comes to locking the door or turning off the sink—although, these problems also plague absent-minded creatives. We mean the acquired forgetfulness where you lose sight of why you wrote that first page. Where the excitement for your work gets lost amid comparison and criticism.
At this point you might sit back in your desk chair and ask if it’s worth it—you may even consider giving up.
Before you do, remember that every writer has thought this way, and no writer will tell you it’s easy. But there are many writers who will tell you that it’s worth it, and we’ve brought together some solid, no-nonsense reminders from some of the best in the business. As you read what the 8 authors below have written about writing, we hope that these tip-of-the-iceberg tidbits will help you to push through in your darkest hours.
“The only way to become a writer is to sit still and write. All writing counts, it’s cumulative. I became a professional by taking any assignment I could get, applying fervent devotion even if the subject was algae production in sewage plants. It’s good practice, to take an uninspiring subject and try to make it sing on the page. I vowed never to hang any words under my byline until they were the best, most creative work I could produce. . . . A career is built one paragraph at a time. I wrote six books and a blue-million articles before anything of mine hit the bestseller lists. I don’t know any shortcuts. But if you’re really a writer, that’s no problem, because you’d rather be writing than anything else.”
2. Louise Erdrich
In The Paris Review’s “Art of Fiction” series, Louise Erdrich (who hales from Minneapolis) explains her comment, “Don’t take writing too seriously.”
“I think I meant that grand ideas kill first efforts. Begin with something in your range. Then write it as a secret. I’d be paralyzed if I thought I had to write a great novel, and no matter how good I think a book is on one day, I know now that a time will come when I will look upon it as a failure. The gratification has to come from the effort itself. I try not to look back. I approach the work as though, in truth, I’m nothing and the words are everything. Then I write to save my life. If you are a writer, that will be true. Writing has saved my life.”
3. Alice Walker
In her interview with Writer’s Digest, the author of The Color Purple shows why staying open to experimentation in writing is so important.
“I feel that I need to write what comes to me, as this particular person—and if I am patient enough, and if I meditate enough, and if I take enough long walks, and if I just do nothing but basically stay open, that the genre actually will form itself to suit whatever the subject is that arrives. So I would want writers to consider that just as they wouldn’t get dressed and wear only a hat [laughs].”
4. David Foster Wallace
“Writing well in the sense of writing something interesting and urgent and alive, that actually has calories in it for the reader—the reader walks away having benefited from the 45 minutes she put into reading the thing—maybe isn’t hard for a certain few. . . . Apparently Bertrand Russell could just simply sit down and do this. I don’t know anyone who can do that. For me, the cliché that ‘Writing that appears effortless takes the most work’ has been borne out through very unpleasant experience.”
5. Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut’s “8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story” contains some of the most concise and memorable quotes on writing. This short and sweet tip packs complexity into its imagery.
“Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.”
6. F. Scott Fitzgerald
One of the greatest American writers, and a Minnesota native, wrote a letter to his daughter in 1936 encouraging her to keep at her writing. We find his sound advice encouraging even eighty years later.
“Nobody ever became a writer just by wanting to be one. If you have anything to say, anything you feel nobody has ever said before, you have got to feel it so desperately that you will find some way to say it that nobody has ever found before, so that the thing you have to say and the way of saying it blend as one matter—as indissolubly as if they were conceived together.”
7. Zadie Smith
This is Zadie’s Smith last tip in her rules of writing. Her elegant and simple phrasing carries a complexity that rings true in the hearts of many dissatisfied writers.
“Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand—but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.”
8. Roald Dahl
Our last piece of encouragement, from Roald Dahl, shows that although all writers are different, they do come from the same mold.
“You must have stamina. In other words, you must be able to stick to what you are doing and never give up, for hour after hour, day after day, week after week and month after month.”
We know we’ve sung the praises of Stephen King, Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, and others who have written excellent books on writing, and we hope they’ve helped. But we wanted these eight authors to remind you that in your deepest moments of forgetfulness, there will always be another writer who’s been there too and who’s picked themselves up and kept typing. Just like you’re about to.
What are some of your favorite writers who write about writing? Let us know in the comments!
I love Anne Lamott! Especially her book BIRD BY BIRD (I promise I’m not yelling, I’m on my phone and can’t italicize haha).
We LOVE Anne Lamott too! She’s definitely at the top for tips on writing!