I know that I haven’t been writing my usual “Fun Friday” blogs, but I have to share this with you, only because I consider writing and editing FUN!
Two days ago I went to the library to work on finishing up my editing to turn in to my editor. I literally sat there and started at my computer and didn’t do a darn thing the whole hour and a half that I was there. I left the library on the verge of tears, feeling very overwhelmed and unaccomplished. It wasn’t a good day.
Today I woke up and was ready to tackle what I needed to get done — finish the edits and turn them in! I arrived at the library and began to work. After about two hours, I needed a break and pulled myself away from my computer and picked up a book that was sitting on the shelf staring right at me. It’s called Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness by Willard Spiegelman. There are seven chapters which are titled the following: Reading, Walking, Looking, Dancing, Listening, Swimming and Writing. I read the chapter on writing and I was truly inspired to continue working to make my dreams come true, especially thanks to the following quotes:
Revision is another word for patience
Whom do you dream of when you write? To whom are you speaking? Who is your “you?”
“Only armatures say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth.” Edna Ferber
Like virtue, writing must ultimately be its own reward.
A writer must only sit and begin.
What is written without effort is read without pleasure.
We must accept our false starts and our full wastebaskets as the conditions for our modest successes.
The writer’s satisfaction comes not from without but from within.
Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
I hope these quotes inspire you as much as they for me. I have been lost and feeling a little tired, but after reading the wonderful chapter by Spiegelman, I am fired up and recharged! I can’t wait to see what next week holds for me on this journey of being a writer!