Wednesday, March 30, 2022

The Courageous Creative


One reason some budding authors never fully bud is because they expect their writing to be polished upon the first keystroke. 

However, as Kevin Ashton, the author of the Amazon Editors' Pick How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery, related, it takes a number of revisions, erasures and rearrangements before writing can shine.
Nothing begins good, but everything good begins. Everything can be revised, erased, or rearranged later. The courage of creation is making bad beginnings.

But as Terry Pratchett advised, DON'T start doing any editing until AFTER your brain dump (i.e., first draft.)

Sunday, March 20, 2022

A Writer's Nourishment

We've related, a number of times, that it's impossible to create (i.e., write) out of thin air. For example, we shared that Sylvia Plath reportedly related:

Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. 

And Anaïs Nin reportedly equated an inspired writer to a nourished writer whom can find nourishment in day-to-day occurrences such as in "a talk on the street":

The final lesson a writer learns is that everything can nourish the writer. The dictionary, a new word, a voyage, an encounter, a talk on the street, a book, a phrase learned. 

Sunday, March 6, 2022

A Writer's Self-Love


Writers, in fact anyone, should avoid creating art to please others. Instead, write about (altruist) content that you find engaging, which may inspire others. And in the process, you'll avoid ennui and depression, but you'll gain self-control.

Patricia Highsmith, the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, reportedly advised:
The first person you should think of pleasing, in writing a book, is yourself. If you can amuse yourself for the length of time it takes to write a book, the publishers and the readers can and will come later.