“When I am writing, even though it's hard and I do struggle often, I am happier than when I'm not writing. I feel alive. Whereas when I'm not writing, I feel like your common every-day neurotic.” FeelsWritingHardCommonStruggleAliveLike YouNeurotic Author:Paul Auster
“The last thing reporters and editors want to be told is what to do and how to write. They don't want to be some politically correct, Orwellian, kind of like "you're telling me how to write about...?"” WantWritingKindLastsLike YouEditorsReportersPolitically CorrectOrwellian Author:Jose Antonio Vargas
“Yeah, for me there are other challenges that aren't musical too. Like you just don't have as many people to feed off of energy wise, you are loading in and out and you are driving yourself more. Most of the challenges that count are the musical ones. I don't know why people come out to the shows, but I never think that it is to hear me play the guitar and sing. I think it must be in the writing and the presentation, which are the areas that I feel most comfortable.” PeopleThinkingKnowsFeelsWritingPlayShowsEnergyChallengesWiseLike YouComfortableAreasYeahGuitarMusicalDrivingPresentation Author:Stephen Kellogg
“I don't know if it was related to the type of music that we were doing at that time or what, but Todd Cook actually just turned to me and was like, "You know what would be a great name for a metal band? Dead Child." We talked half-jokingly that we were going to do a band. I guess as time went on, I started writing songs that were more metal sounding, and it just evolved from there. It actually started with the name first, and then the songs came second.” IfsKnowsWritingFirstsChildrenWould BeSongNamesHalfLike YouTypeBandCooksRelatedMetalsWriting SongsMetal Band Author:David Pajo
“For the kind of places I've written for and the kind of writing that I've done, the general way to think about your audience is to think about somebody who's like yourself, but in a completely different discipline.” ThinkingWayWritingKindDifferentDoneAudienceWrittenLike YouDisciplineLike Yourself Author:Louis Menand
“I'm like, If you do something dumb, I'll write about it. If you put something out there, to me it's like you're kind of asking for it.” IfsWritingKindLike YouAskingDumb Author:Wanda Sykes
“Write like you write, like you can't help but write, and your voice will become yours and yours alone. It'll take time but it'll happen as long as you let it. Own your voice, for your voice is your own. Once you know where your voice lives, you no longer have to worry so much about being derivative.” KnowsWritingLongHelpingHappensVoiceWorryLike YouTake TimeDerivatives Author:Chuck Wendig
“I start my process hand written, and then I dump it in. It's like you're getting a second draft 'cause when I put it in the computer, I fix it and change stuff. That's my process. I picked that up from speaking to Neil Gaiman and Joe Hill. I was messing around with the idea of starting to write more, writing a book and doing things like this, and I reached out for advice. They were like, "Oh, we hand write, and then we dump it all in." I was like, "Great! There's no more blank pages."” WritingBookIdeasHandsCausesStuffProcessWrittenAdviceLike YouComputerPagesStartingHillsBlankWriting A BookDumpBlank PagesGaimanStarting To Write Author:Gerard Way
“In publishing books and winning awards, it's like you've enjoyed this meal, you know, two months ago. How long can you be nourished by thinking about it? You've already ingested it, and you've excreted it, and that was two months ago. You had this fabulous meal. It's not going to keep you satiated today. You have to go out and get your next meal. For me, that's writing. I have to go out and hunt my next meal.” ThinkingKnowsWritingLongTwoBookTodayNextWinningLike YouMonthsEnjoyedMealsAwardsPublishingFabulousHuntsTwo MonthsPublishing BooksWinning Awards Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“As you go on you realize "Okay I know how to get laughs but am I saying things I want to say? Am I writing jokes that I like?" You get to a point that is that so you move on.” KnowsWantWritingMovingRealizingLaughingKnow HowLike YouGoes OnJokesOkayI Like You Author:Baron Vaughn
“I think it's important if you're going to write a cookbook, it should sound like you talking - it should be things you actually believe, otherwise I'm not interested.” IfsThinkingShouldWritingBelieveImportantSoundTalkingLike YouNot InterestedCookbook Author:Anthony Bourdain
“I have two wonderful, supportive and very practical parents who were like, you're really talented and really creative. You should be a lawyer because there's a safe path there. And I knew that I was never going to be a lawyer. And I knew that I wanted to make movies, and I wanted to write shows.” ShouldWritingTwoShowsWantedParentCreativePathWonderfulLike YouSafeLawyerPracticalsSupportive Author:Lin-Manuel Miranda
“When you have this long of a run [in The Big Bang Theory], you don't have to have something happen every episode. Like, Sheldon lost his virginity last season and in the first season he didn't even like girls. So I feel like you can earn that stuff. And that is really fun, because you get to find new layers. It's a testament to the writing.” FeelsWritingFirstsLongBigsHappensRunningLastsGirlLostFunStuffTheoryLike YouSeasonsThings HappenLayersEpisodesTestamentBangsVirginity Author:Simon Helberg
“I never write a tune before the lyrics. I get the lyrics and then I write around them. Some people write music and the lyrics come along and they say, 'Oh yeah, I've got something to fit that.' If that's the way people write songs, I feel like you might as well just go to the supermarket.” PeopleIfsWayFeelsWritingWellsMightSongLike YouFitYeahTunesSupermarkets Author:James Dean Bradfield
“I should have asked for credit - but he has no idea how amazing it is that a character that was written as a boy can be equally written for a girl. It's like you said, just write a character as if it were a man, and then turn it and make it into a woman. It's like, we're human beings, after all.” IfsMenShouldWritingHumansSaidIdeasCharacterTurnsGirlHuman BeingsBoysWrittenLike YouShould HaveCreditNo Idea Author:Karla Souza
“With Twitter people oddly feel accountable for what they write. When someone is unkind, the community rallies like you wouldn't believe to shut it down.” PeopleFeelsWritingBelieveCommunityLike YouUnkind Author:Demi Moore
“It's important to write like your readers are brilliant.” WritingImportantLike YouReaderBrilliant Author:Joshua Mohr
“Every time I sit down and write I got to put something conscious in there. It's like I got a job now. They say that for those that know you got to deal in equality. If you know and you don't speak on it and don't apply it, it's like you're the worst hypocrite. I feel I got a job to do, being that I study so much and I believe in Allah like I do, I feel like I got to spread the word.” IfsKnowsFeelsWritingBelieveJobsSpeakI BelieveDealsStudyWorstLike YouConsciousDown AndI Believe InSpreadHypocriteBelieve In Allah Author:Rakim
“Ordinary people like you and me can achieve very little on their own. We need to build support. Even if you are a thought leader and have some good ideas on how to make the world better, and even if you write five or ten books - that won't have much effect unless you have people who are willing to support your ideas.” PeopleIfsWorldNeedsWritingLittlesBookIdeasLeaderSupportFiveAchieveEffectsWillingLike YouTenOrdinaryGood IdeasOrdinary People Author:Thomas Pogge
“When people start writing songs for award shows, there's a very limited palette you can use. You end up not sounding like you. You end up sounding like somebody else. You end up getting what the record company thinks they can market.” PeopleThinkingWritingEndsUseShowsSongCompanyRecordsLike YouAwardsWriting SongsRecord CompaniesPaletteAward Shows Author:Mike Dirnt
“I think it's more difficult writing what it's like to be a child. You can pretend you know what it's like, but you don't really know. The only parts I can remember is that the adults were like, "Aren't they cute?" But when you're little you're looking at the other kids like they're your colleagues. They're not like, "Oh, we're all cute little kids." They're more like your office acquaintances. It's very hard to grasp the memories of what it actually was like to be a kid.” ThinkingKnowsWritingChildrenLittlesI CanHardKidsRememberDifficultMemoriesLike YouOfficeAdultsCuteColleaguesLittle KidAcquaintance Author:Tama Janowitz
“There's this pet phrase about writing that is bandied around particularly in workshops about "finding your own voice as a poet", which I suppose means that you come out from under the direct influence of other poets and have perhaps found a way to combine those influences so that it appears to be your own voice. But I think you could also put it a different way. You, quote, find your voice, unquote, when you are able to invent this one character who resembles you, obviously, and probably is more like you than anyone else on earth, but is not the equivalent to you.” ThinkingWayWritingMeanDifferentCharacterAbleEarthFoundVoiceInfluencePoetLike YouFindingsDirectDifferent WaysPhrasesPetWorkshops Author:Billy Collins
“As a gay writer and someone who began by writing autobiographical fiction, it's hard to get away from chatter of "You're just a narcissist," "You're just a gay man," "You're just looking for yourself in somebody else," "Why does your boyfriend look like you," a kind of baggage that you already have to create in the face of.” MenWritingKindLike YouGayGet AwayNarcissistGay MenYour Boyfriend Author:Douglas A. Martin
“I've found a bit of success in my career, and I'm very relieved by it, but the success that comes after a book is published is never as happy as the feeling of writing, of knowing you've written something good, of feeling like you've had a worthwhile day in the chair. That's the best feeling I know, and as soon as writing stops making me feel that way, I'll stop doing it.” WritingBookFeelingsLike YouRelieved Author:Lauren Grodstein