Skip to main content

12 Nuggets of Writing Wisdom

by Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ
 
 
1. Work hard to become competent.
 
Neil Gaiman said, "There's no magic formula. To become a competent writer, you 
write until you start to sound like you, and then you keep on writing. Finish 
things you start. Get better."
 
2. View life from different perspectives.
 
Douglas Clegg said, "Get out and live and travel and see the world from 
perspectives other than the one with which you've been saddled. Youth doesn't 
last very long, and it might be better to participate in life awhile before 
writing from it."
 
3. Write one page at a time.
 
John Steinbeck said, "When I face the desolate impossibility of writing 500 pages, 
a sick sense of failure falls on me and I know I can never do it. This happens 
every time. Then gradually I write one page and then another. One day's work is 
all I can permit myself to contemplate and I eliminate the possibility of ever 
finishing."
 
4. Strive for vigorous writing.
 
William Strunk, Jr. said, "Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A 
sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary 
sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines 
and a machine no unnecessary parts."
 
5. Be vigilant and ever ready.
 
Earl Nightingale said, "Ideas are elusive, slippery things. Best to keep a pad of 
paper and a pencil at your bedside, so you can stab them during the night before 
they get away."
 
6. Develop your own writing voice.
 
Michael Chabon said, "A voice, not merely recognizable, but original, unique, 
engaging and above all derived from, reflecting, and advancing the meaning of 
the story itself, is necessary to good and worthwhile literature."
 
7. Write with confidence.
 
William Zinsser said, "Don't say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and 
a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. 
Be annoyed. Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean 
and confident."
 
8. Develop a writing habit.
 
Richard North Patterson said, "Cultivate steady work habits: a schedule that 
contemplates either regular work hours every week or a certain number of pages. 
Artistic inspiration is one of the most overrated premises for a writing schedule; 
a writer should try to get pages done on a regular basis, then work to improve 
them. If one waits for inspiration, rather than treating writing like a serious 
task, it becomes much harder to ever finish a book."
 
9. Write right now.
 
Jack London said, "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a 
club."
 
10. Venture out and attempt to be read and published.
 
John Campbell said, "The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by 
editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the 
closet shelf at home."
 
11. Rejection is part of the writing life.
 
Meg Cabot said, "You are not a hundred dollar bill. Not everyone is going to 
like you or your story. Do not take rejection personally."
 
12. Write with passion.
 
Ann Patchett said, "The end result for a writer may be finding a publisher, but 
publishing is not anywhere near the beginning or the middle of this process. So 
when we advise young people about writing, it would be best if we could move 
students away from that kind of thinking and say, 'Write because you're passionate 
about it. Think of yourself as a glass blower. You don't blow your first glass 
and take it to Tiffany's. You blow your first glass, and you smash it. You blow 
it again, and you smash it.'" 
 
 
 
Copyright (c) 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ
Shery created WriteSparks! - a software that generates over 10 *million* 
Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks! Lite for fr*e -  
http://writesparks.com 

 
I hope today's article spurs you into action. Let the stories inside you 
spill out onto the page.

Popular posts from this blog

The Comeback of 2D Animation: Why We’re Craving Realness Again

There’s something happening in animation right now that’s worth paying attention to—not because it’s simply nostalgic, but because it’s deeply human. As someone who works in the mental health and creative storytelling space, I can’t help but see these conversations about art, AI, and hand-drawn storytelling as part of a bigger theme: our collective hunger for authenticity. We live in a time where AI-generated content is everywhere—convenient, efficient, and often soulless. It’s not surprising that artists and audiences alike are looking back toward something that feels more tactile, more imperfect, more human. That brings us to 2D animation, an art form that has shaped generations and now, it seems, might just be making a comeback. Here’s what Language of the Soul podcast host, Dominick Domingo, had to say on this trend: There’s been a lot of industry talk lately speculating about 2D/traditional ANIMATION making a comeback. Recent articles confirm that although Disney has not greenlit...

Interview Friday with multi-talented author, Cheryl Malandrinos

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor from Western Massachusetts . A regular contributor to Writer2Writer, her articles focus on increasing productivity through time management and organization. A founding member of Musing Our Children , Ms. Malandrinos is also the Editor-in-Chief of the group's quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens . Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion , a book reviewer, and blogger. Guardian Angel Publishing will release her first children’s book, The Little Shepherd Boy, in 2010. VS: Cheryl, I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. I know being a parent and writer can be hard and I find myself asking if I am giving my three children enough attention throughout the day. I am sure you have been in my shoes from time to time. So to start here is the first question, how many children do you have and what are their ages? Cheryl: Thanks for having me at The Writing Mama, Virginia. I’m thril...

Five Tips for a More Marketable Children’s Picture Book Manuscript by Mayra Calvani

The world of children’s picture book publishing is extremely competitive. If you’re an aspiring children’s author, you need to make sure your manuscript is in excellent shape and has all the elements editors and agents look for before you begin the submission process. Here are five tips to make your picture book manuscript more marketable: Start right with the problem.  Many times beginner writers begin a picture book with back-story. It’s okay to have this back-story in the first draft, but be sure to get rid of it when you edit. Back-story is unnecessary 90% of the time and it only serves to slow down the beginning of a story, making it weaker. You want to grab the reader right from the start. So don’t be afraid to begin your story at the heart of the problem. It’s okay to set the stage with a sentence or two—but no more! Have a protagonist readers can relate to. Generally, children like to listen to stories about other children or animals with children’s characteristics. ...