writer in progress: the well-placed quote

You already knew I loved quotes. (And if that didn't convince you, this did.)

Probably no surprise, then, that I keep a huge list of quotes specifically to get me writing. Huge list.

... Actually, it's less like a list, and more like a massive, bulging file folder, crammed with scraps of paper with my scribbling on them. Like a snowdrift of writerly inspiration.

I always make sure a few of them land on the bulletin board above my desk. If I zone out for a while, and my gaze lands on one, it's the right spark to get me back to work.

Here are the three genius quotes keeping me at it this week:

The only way to change culture is to make more of it. -- Darrin Patrick

If God gives you something you can do, why in God's name wouldn't you do it? -- Stephen King

(This next is one of my all-time favorites. Makes me want to pull out my writerly superhero boots and cape.)

Learn your craft, by any and all means. ... Then practice it with all the art and magic you can muster. Be worthy of your vocation, which is, after all is said and done, truly a career of danger and daring. -- George Garrett

And if those don't work, it means I'm overthinking, or worrying, or spending time in some other mental ditch that is utterly unhelpful. To that end, here's one of my own quotes. It usually does the trick:


Subtle, isn't it? But sometimes subtle works.