I am in the middle of a poignant, emotional turning point in my work in progress and am currently motivated and inspired to keep writing–which is the point of the whole journey, right? 🙂
But I did want to leave you with some motivation of your own. Every month I open a new word document and paste any quotes, blog posts, twitter chats, ANYTHING that speaks to me or teaches me something.
Here are a few of my favorite inspirational quotes from October (I’d love to take credit for these, but sadly cannot. Unfortunately I also didn’t include in my document who does deserve credit. If you said any of these this month, please leave it in the comments . . . and thanks!) :
You can’t fix what you don’t write.
Cut the last line of your paragraphs. It is almost always saying something that was already said and weakening the rest of the paragraph.
Always be asking yourself: Does the reader REALLY need to know this NOW, or can it wait?
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass . . . ” Anton Chekhov
Add a little tension by giving your character something to accomplish or try to accomplish in every scene
Remember names. Be able to connect the book to the author in a second flat. You need to be able to talk about other writers like you went to high school with them. Memorize authors, titles, editors, agents. Know who goes with whom.
Now, I’m off to break my main character’s heart. I will most likely need a lot of chocolate when it’s all done.
Happy Writing!!
