Writing Tips Digest

By Jennifer Debenham

I'm definitely a quote person. My house is dotted with them. When we move into our new home in a month, and I FINALLY have my own office, the walls surrounding my computer desk will be plastered with bits of inspiration.

Here are a few that pertain to writing, or general motivation, that I've gathered over the years. Do you see your favorites below? If not please post them in the comments section.

Happy Writing!

"Try to leave out the parts that people skip." ~Elmore Leonard

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

"The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way you would never do anything." ~John Irving

"Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't." ~Jerry Rice

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." ~Abraham Lincoln

"To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph."~Mark Twain-- Letter to Emeline Beach, 10 Feb 1868

"Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer."~ Barbara Kingsolver

"Asking a writer what he thinks about criticism is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs. "~ John Osborne

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." ~ Ernest Hemingway

"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~ Toni Morrison

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." ~ William Wordsworth

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." ~ Mark Twain

"Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space." ~ Orson Scott Card