Hello, 2021! 16 Quotes to Help Jump-Start Your Writing Year
There’s nothing quite like the New Year to jump-start your writing and publication efforts. If you find it hard to keep up with New Year’s resolutions, how about some inspirational quotes instead?
I rounded up my favorite quotes from successful authors to help you get started with that novel or short story or nonfiction book.
Finding Your Purpose
“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison
“Tears are words that need to be written.” – Paul Coelho
“To survive, you must tell stories.” – Umberto Eco
“I write to discover what I know.” – Flannery O’Connor
“You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you have something to say.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Value of Perseverance
“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but most of all, endurance.” – James Baldwin
“You fail only if you stop writing.” – Ray Bradbury
“Good writing is rewriting.” – Truman Capote
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
The Importance of Reading for Writers
“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” – Stephen King
"Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it.” – William Faulkner
“Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write." – Annie Proulx
On Rejections
“And here’s what I know most intimately, and most truly, about the life of a writer. You will be rejected. Period.” – Bret Lott
“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.” – Harper Lee
“I love my rejection slips. They show me I try.” – Sylvia Plath
“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” – C. S. Lewis
Read a related story:
Writing Fiction is a Job: Top 10 Quotes
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