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Quote by Sinclair Lewis

“Writing is just work-there's no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it's still just work.”

Author

Sinclair Lewis

American novelist known for his profound depiction of middle-class life in the United States. His notable works include 'Babbitt' and 'Main Street'. more

“After finishing the first draft, I work for as long as it takes (for two or three weeks, most often) to rework that first draft on a computer. Usually that involves expansion: filling in and adding to, but trying not to lose the spontaneous, direct sound. I use that first draft as a touchstone to make sure everything else in that section has the same sound, the same tone and impression of spontaneity.”

Writing Trying Firsts Long Two Use Three Sound Loses Week Computer Direct Impression Tone Expansion Spontaneous Sections Filling Spontaneity Finishing Touchstones Filling In Rework

Author:Kent Haruf

“Never use an adverb to modify the verb 'said' . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange.”

Way Writing Said Use Sin Rhythm Mortals Earnest Verbs Exposing Adverbs Mortal Sin

Author:Elmore Leonard

“How do you write? You write, man, you write, that's how, and you do it the way the old English walnut tree puts forth leaf and fruit every year by the thousands. . . . If you practice an art faithfully, it will make you wise, and most writers can use a little wising up.”

Ifs Men Way Writing Years Littles Art Use Practice Wise Tree Fruit Leafs Walnuts Old English Walnut Trees

Author:William Saroyan

“In the most basic way, writers are defined not by the stories they tell, or their politics, or their gender, or their race, but by the words they use. Writing begins with language, and it is in that initial choosing, as one sifts through the wayward lushness of our wonderful mongrel English, that choice of vocabulary and grammar and tone, the selection on the palette, that determines who's sitting at that desk. Language creates the writer's attitude toward the particular story he's decided to tell.”

Source: The Getaway Car: A Donald Westlake Nonfiction Miscellany

“Acutely aware of the poverty of my means, language became obstacle. At every page I thought, 'That's not it.' So I began again with other verbs and other images. No, that wasn't it either. But what exactly was that it I was searching for? It must have been all that eludes us, hidden behind a veil so as not to be stolen, usurped and trivialized. Words seemed weak and pale.”

Writing Mean Has Beens Language Behinds Poverty Pages Weak Obstacles Pale Veils Stolen Verbs Elude Elude Us

Author:Elie Wiesel

“And the reason you hate writing so much is because you start analyzing your work before you're done pouring it onto the page. Your Left-brain won't let your Right-brain do it's job ... Your Right-brain gets the words on the page. The Left-brain makes them sing.”

Writing Reason Done Jobs Hate Left Brain Pages Pouring Analyzing Left Brain

Author:Jeff Bollow

“There are people who have never studied writing who are capable of being writers. I know this because I am an example. I was a part-time registered nurse, a wife, and a mother when I began publishing. I'd taken no classes, had no experience, no knowledge of the publishing world, no agent, no contacts ... Take the risk to let all that is in you, out. Escape into the open.”

People Knows World Writing Mother Class Taken Wife Risk Example Capable Contact Agents Nurse Publishing Part Time

Author:Elizabeth Berg

Quote by Sinclair Lewis

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