“Writers who get written about become self-conscious. They develop a regrettable habit of looking at themselves through the eyes of other people. They are no longer alone, they have an investment in critical praise, and they think they must protect it. This leads to a diffusion of effort. The writer watches himself as he works. He grows more subtle and he pays for it by loss of organic dash.” PeopleThinkingWritingSelfEyeGrowsLossEffortPayWatchesWrittenHabitProtectConsciousPraiseInvestmentCriticalSubtleSelf ConsciousThrough The EyesDiffusion Book:Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler Source: Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler
“Children should learn to draw as they learn to write, and such a mystery should not be made of it. They should be encouraged, not flattered... then [later in life] double the effort is required to get the facility which might have been gained insensibly.” ShouldWritingChildrenHas BeensMadeMightEffortMysteryDrawsMight Have BeenFacilityFlatteredBe EncouragedLater In Life Author:William Morris Hunt
“Because, if one is writing novels today, concentrating on the beauty of the prose is right up there with concentrating on your semi-colons, for wasted effort.” IfsWritingTodayEffortNovelProseConcentratingEfforts Wasted Author:Neil Gaiman
“Anybody can find out if he is a writer. If he were a writer, when he tried to write of some particular day, he would find in the effort that he could recall exactly how the light fell and how the temperature felt, and all the quality of it. Most people cannot do it. If they can do it, they may never be successful in a pecuniary sense, but that ability is at the bottom of writing, I am sure.” PeopleIfsWritingMayLightFeltCan DoAbilityEffortQualitySuccessfulParticularBottomBeing SuccessfulRecallsTemperature Author:Maxwell Perkins
“I made a very conscious effort to finish 'The Cypress House' before 'So Cold the River' launched, because I thought that would help build a buffer between my writing and any impact that came from either the success or the failure of that first book.” WritingFirstsMadeBookHelpingHouseEffortColdConsciousRiversImpactCypresses Author:Michael Koryta
“When you have been writing for a lot of years, you have to make an effort not to start repeating yourself. It occurred to me that I tended to tread certain ground automatically, because it was comfortable, but that there were areas I avoided automatically because they made me nervous.” WritingYearsHas BeensMadeCertainEffortComfortableAreasNervousAvoided Author:Merrill Markoe