Writing Quotes of the Day

“Like a piece of ice on a hot stove, the poem must ride on its own melting.”—Robert Frost

"Mere literary talent is common; what is rare is endurance, the continuing desire to work hard at writing."—Donald Hall

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”—Gene Fowler

"Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. The chasm is never completely bridged. We all have the conviction, perhaps illusory, that we have much more to say than appears on the paper."—Isaac Bashevis Singer

“I think you have to experience the world to write about it. That’s not to say you must write what you know. I don’t believe in rules like that. I am just talking about experiencing the world. Living in order to write about living. Your mind should be a blender. Everything you do, see and experience gets thrown in. Throw in what you learn and what you hear. Throw in what you read in good books and see in movie theaters. Throw in what you see on your travels. Throw in the good and bad things in the world. When the time is right you flick on the blender, mix everything together and hopefully pour out a smoothie that is all yours.”—Michael Connelly

“Detail is the lifeblood of fiction.”—John Gardner

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”—Ray Bradbury

“A good style should show no sign of effort. What is written should seem like a happy accident.”—William Somerset Maugham



“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”—William Wordsworth

“The art of poetry consists in taking the poem through draft after draft, without losing its inspirational magic: he removes everything irrelevant or distracting, and tightens up what is left. Lazy poets never carry their early drafts far enough: some even believe that virtue lies in the original doodle scrawled on the back of an envelope.”—Robert Graves