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Advice for Writers
Quotes On Writing
  • "Books are a uniquely portable magic."
    — Stephen King

  • "The first draft of everything is shit."
    — Ernest Hemingway

  • "I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out."
    — Oscar Wilde

  • "Easy reading is damn hard writing."
    — Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • "Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."
    — Mark Twain

  • "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
    — Maya Angelou

  • "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
    — Ernest Hemingway

  • "Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long."
    — Leonard Bernstein

  • "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot... Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life... You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you."
    — Stephen King

  • Writer Friends

    Looking for a good book? I promise you'll love any of these!
    • Caprice Crane
      Author of STUPID AND CONTAGIOUS, FORGET ABOUT IT, FAMILY AFFAIR and WITH A LITTLE LUCK
    • Jen Lancaster
      NYT best-selling author of BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK; BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG ASS; SUCH A PRETTY FAT; PRETTY IN PLAID; MY FAIR LAZY; and IF YOU WERE HERE
    • Gitty Daneshvari
      Author of THE MAKEDOWN and the SCHOOL OF FEAR series
    • Sarah Grace McCandless
      Author of GROSSE POINTE GIRL and THE GIRL I WANTED TO BE
    • Julie Klam
      NYT best-selling author of the hilarious PLEASE EXCUSE MY DAUGHTER and YOU HAD ME AT WOOF
    • Emma Straub
      Author of the awesome little novella FLY-OVER STATE and OTHER PEOPLE WE MARRIED
    • Marian Keyes
      NYT best-selling author of over a dozen books, Blurbed SAVE KARYN
    • Mary Ann Zoellner
      Author of TODAY'S MOMS, Producer at NBC's Today
    • Jancee Dunn
      Author of BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME, DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME, and WHY IS MY MOTHER GETTING A TATTOO?
    • Quinn Cummings
      Author of NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE
    • Jolene Siana
      Author of the memoir GO ASK OGRE
    • Laurie Sandell
      Contributing editor for GLAMOUR and author of THE IMPOSTER'S DAUGHTER
    • Blake Nelson
      Author of eight books including PARANOID PARK and GIRL, both of which became feature films
    • Allison Winn Scotch
      NYT best-selling author of TIME OF MY LIFE, THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST & FOUND, THE ONE THAT I WANT and THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME
    • Eva Nagorski
      Author of THE DOWN AND DIRTY DISH ON REVENGE: SERVING IT UP NICE AND COLD TO THAT LYING, CHEATING BASTARD, Former co-worker of mine
    • Marcy Dermansky
      Author of TWINS and BAD MARIE
    • Tatiana Boncompagni
      Author of HEDGE FUND WIVES and GILDING LILY
    • Janelle Brown
      Author of the national bestseller ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS EVERYTHING and THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE, Interviewed me eons ago for Salon.com