Writer’s Quotes by Christine Duncan

I didn’t write this weekend. I got tires put on the car, went to garage sales to find some stuff I needed, went to breakfast with my son and his kids. I went to Guanella Pass to see the leaves change, ran about 3 miles, went to the library. I washed clothes and floors, grocery shopped, cooked and then cooked again. I even gave a lick and a promise to the refrigerator, watched the grandbabies and looked at the stars.

But I didn’t write this weekend and it is becoming a habit I want to quit.

So with that in mind, I looked up some writing quotes to remind me, yet again, why I write. And I hope that they will do the same for you.

“You’re going to feel like hell if you wake up someday, and you never wrote the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart.” Anne Lamott.

I have to say though, guilt doesn’t work well for me with writing. I was raised Catholic; I have so much more I can feel guilty about! Cleaning wins hands down over writing. After all, cleanliness is next to Godliness.

“People have writer’s block not because they can’t write, but because they despair of writing eloquently.” Anna Quindlen.

Yeah, but I haven’t written enough lately to despair of anything.

But this is the truth:
It’s hell writing and it’s hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written.” Robert Hass.

I might just post that one on my fridge–for the next time, I’m cleaning that instead of writing.

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Tools

Being tired is a tool. So tired you can’t even think. Sit back and let your mind wander. You might be surprised where it ends.

Being angry is a tool. Use it. Remember it. Analyse it. Describe it. Write it out.

Being upset is a tool. Write it. Write every tear and sob and heart cry. It may not produce the best prose, but there’ll be one good phrase.

Being happy is a tool. Remember it. Record it. Store it away to pull out when you need it.

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby

The Women Of Baker Street

Sent from my iPad

Fall Quotes for Writers by Christine Duncan

Since I live in Colorado, leaf peeping season is early. But Autumn does start this week.
I went today on the Peak to Peak highway and it was beautiful, so I thought I would share some autumn quotes with you. Just don’t expect that you will be inspired to sit and write!

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
“Aprils have never meant much to me, autumns seem that season of beginning, spring.”

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

But just in case you are tempted to good off:
“A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity.” Franz Kafka

Which Story to Tell

How do you know when you’ve got the right story? If you’re like me, you have several stories spinning in your head at the same time, but you can only work on one, possibly two at the same time.

Well, don’t be pragmatic. Don’t pick the one you think you think will sell. That won’t work, unless you have a real passion for the story.

So when you’re in the supermarket queue and you’re trying to concentrate on your shopping, which story pops into your head?

If you daydream a conversation, which character do you talk to?

Which one do you dream about?

One of your stories will force its way through to your pen.

However – don’t be afraid to combine two stories. Or even three. You may find, as you think about it, that what you thought were separate and discrete stories all turn out to be strands of the same story.

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby

The Women Of Baker Street

Sent from my iPad

Writers Writing for Themselves by Christine Duncan

When writers go about their daily life, they often have to write. But it amazes me when I see how many writers seem to be unaware of the effect that their writing has. Many times, writers are unintentionally harsh–without meaning to be. And yes, by writers, I mean me.

Recently, I wanted to write something myself to my rather large neighborhood. Several neighbors moved in this summer, and they all seemed to have large cats. These large cats were all using the play structure in my yard as a litter box.

I didn’t want to confront a bunch of people (or at least not the ones who didn’t hear my not so delicate screeching on doing these cleanups) so I decided to write something on local social media, to more nicely alert my neighbors of the nuisance value of their animals in my yard.

Yet I felt a little cautious. I mean, people can be very attached to their pets, and are totally not understanding why you might not want their Tom the cat in your yard.

I started out trying to be humorous. Why, I asked, if cats can’t be owned, do people persist in trying to do so? Mmm, maybe I shouldn’t ask.

I then proposed that before people moved into the neighborhood, they send out a survey to their soon to be neighbors. Something like this:
I have an outdoor cat and I am moving in. Please check the appropriate box as to how you feel about this.

1. Cool, I have cats too.
2. Ehh, whatever.
3. I will pay you to please move somewhere else. Big money.

My husband thought this wasn’t great either–which just proves the value of having someone critique your writing before sending it out. Or maybe he just doesn’t want to put out the money.

I guess I will, being the wimp I am, invest in a motion controlled sprinkler system to chase the unwanted away.

Read A Book day

Yesterday was Read A Book day, and the general reaction was ‘isn’t that every day?’ which was heartening.

I think it’s important writers read for pleasure. There may be a tendency amongst some writers to only read books as an exercise. They read great heavy portentous tomes not for fun, but because they feel they ought to. They want to see the mechanics of writing. They want to impress. They want to name drop. They want to see what other people are writing. Then they write great heavy portentous times themselves, heavy on the polysyllabic word use, and ten lines long sentence and they find no joy in writing it. And then the reader finds no joy in reading it. It all feels rather mechanical.

But when a writer reads for pleasure, they learn to love words and characters and plots and genres. Then when they come to write, that joy extends itself to their own writing, and their readers feel that joy too.

In other words – read what you enjoy. Then write what you enjoy. Then your readers will enjoying reading your writing.

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby

The Women Of Baker Street

Sent from my iPad

Happy Labor Day Everyone! by Christine Duncan