Blogger: Mary Keeley
For any author who, at one time or another, has felt as if you’ve used up every creative brain cell and have little left to give toward your writing dream, I have words of wisdom from famous authors to inspire you. When the road ahead of you feels more like climbing a mountain than coasting down a slope, setting incremental goals will help you apply their wisdom to move forward at a steady pace.
Writer’s block usually is the result of one or more pressures accumulating 
under the surface. Looming deadlines, keeping up with personal life, problems with the manuscript, and negative feedback or rejections are but a few. These are normal pressures of life that are hard to avoid, but read this sage advice:
“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day … you will never be stuck. Always stop while you are going good and don’t think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.” — Ernest Hemingway
When discouragement and self-doubt slow you to a halt, take comfort in knowing all writers are susceptible to these and then profit from what successful authors have learned:
“I can’t write five words but that I change seven.” – Dorothy Parker
“Half my life is an act of revision.” – John Irving
“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” – William Faulkner
“Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.” – Pearl S. Buck
“If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” – Da Poynter
“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” – Ray Bradbury
Failing is inevitable on the up and down road of the writing life. How you deal with it makes all the difference. These enduring authors show us how to respond well:
“A wounded deer leaps the highest.” – Emily Dickinson
“A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.” – Sidney Sheldon
“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” – James Joyce
“You fail only if you stop writing.” – Ray Bradbury
What is the challenge you are facing right now? You might not know what God has in mind for your writing, but if you set incremental, reachable goals for the day, next week, and the month, you will reap small successes on the path he has for you.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” — Mark Twain
Because
“It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition.” – Isaac Asimov
What challenges are you facing in your writing life today? What will you do to overcome writer’s block or discouragement and failures in the future? Which words of wisdom and incremental goals inspire you most?
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“Half my life is an act of revision.”
I often stumble into inspiration while pressing the backspace key. God honors the wrong words written in faith that the right ones WILL come.
Jesus’ acceptance of the Cross is the ultimate backspace key.
Oh, I love that … the backspace key. Nice. So nice.
Well said, Shirlee.
Great way to look at it, Shirlee! Love your insight.
Profound, Shirlee. I need to remember this.
I agree completely. God will honor our efforts and provide the inspiration and words we need. Blessings.
* Great post, Mary, and a great selection of quotes. It’s a keeper!
* The biggest challenge I am facing now is not specific to writing – but it certainly affects it. Things are getting bad enough now, with now ‘events’ and an implied timeline, that I’m catching myself thinking, “Well, what’s the point? Unless things change drastically, I’ll be dead by summer…so why plan on anything that’ll take longer? And did any of this even matter?”
* The sticking point is, of course, that this is a prognostication. It may be statistically likely; it is not set in stone, and my attitude if a big part of that which will happen. I therefore aim to supplant resolve, which is failing, with viciousness and a killing, ruthless rage against circumstance. That may work, at least for awhile, though I don’t suppose it will make me a candidate for the Mother Teresa of the Year trophy
* Did it matter? I save emails, and so many have said…”Yes. It mattered, and it matters.” But even in their absence, I should know better, that we can only see a small part of the result of our efforts, and that in the end we must throw our hearts over the onrushing defensive line, in a Hail Mary to the receiver, Jesus. He is the only one who can carry the ball all the way downfield. He has pretty good hands, and fleet feet. (I am learning American football…a peculiar game.)
* While moto can help bolster morale, there are other things – physical things – that I find necessary.
1) I read books that I find uplifting, and that do NOT imply that I should ‘relax into Jesus; arms, and go gently into that good night’. This is advice I am given often, and it is not me. When I go, I will give ‘scorched earth’ an entirely new, and fell, meaning. (See ‘killing rage’, above…it’s a war, and I don’t really care for the weakness of the Geneva Code…never did.)
2) I write that which absolutely has to be recorded, so that the stories are not lost – and put them on my blog via a weekly flash fiction exercise. It’s not easy, but I am always glad to have done it. If you’re interested in what I mean, here is the latest installment –
http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2016/02/through-forest-story-of-viet-nam.html
3) While much of my body has been ravaged (my legs get more atrophied by the week, and walking is difficult, requiring much rest), there is still some upper-body strength, and thus, The Morning Hate, a series of dead-hang chinups on a bar mounted in a doorframe within a few feet of this computer. They are excruciating, and engender some spectacular Technicolour Yawns, but I find them a necessary sharp stick in the eye of infirmity.
4) And finally, pursuant to that, my favourite moto (which I must redact, be warned) comes from my favourite Christian film, “Fury”. It’s the all-purpose comment by the redneck cannon-loader Grady, when faced with something he’d rather not do, but must and will do anyway –
“F*** it.”
You are a fighter, Andrew, and an inspiration to all of us to persevere in our God-given calling and devotion to Christ.
Mary, thank you…I am both honoured and humbled.
Andrew, you should compile all your flash fiction stories into a book.
That’s the intention, Jan. I’d like to finish the story, but have to balance that desire against the fact that I’m running out of energy, and, perhaps, time. So at some point – soon – I’ll collect what I have and make it available (or perhaps query an unsuspecting agent with it!)
* The last does make me wonder if an agent would be interested in seeing a story that was ‘serialized’ like that, in blog posts, or does that constitute ‘previously published’ and thus make it an impossible project to support?
I’ve been out of town for almost two weeks … right in the middle of working on my newest manuscript. I’m wondering if I ought to read what I’ve written so I’ll remember better where to pick up … or just read the chapter prior to where I need to pick up. 🙂 I’m afraid if I try to read the whole 40K words written so far, I’ll get lost in how much work it needs, the edit. You know? 🙂 I had so hoped to finish it before vacation, but it just didn’t happen.
*I liked this–“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” – Ray Bradbury 🙂
Read the previous chapter, and KEEP GOING.
* As Satchel Paige once said, “Don’t look back…something might be gaining on you.”
* In this case, the doubts that come from the Thief.
* Write on, and don’t look back, dear Shelli.
Thank you, Andrew. You know you love writing when it nearly does you in to have to stop writing to enjoy Disney. 🙂
Shelli, your love for writing comes through so clearly here! Just behind, in ascending order…
3) Love for friends
2) Love for family
1) Love for God
* Did I get the order right?
Shelli, that Bradbury quote is spot on. We are our own bumpiest road blocks, so to speak. I’ve most recently adopted a writing rule. Leave something newly written long enough that you’ve forgotten the individual lines. Only then is it ready for you to read with clarity and can see places for improvement.
Shelli, two weeks is a long time away. I wouldn’t remember exactly where I was and why. Whole work vs. last chapter? I’d say it depends on the type of plot. If there are multiple POV characters and parallel plot lines that need to converge at just the right time, I’d say reread the whole thing or you’ll get inconsistencies. If it’s less complex with only a couple of POV characters and a single main plot line that’s more like a river than multiple converging streams, the last chapter will probably get you back in the groove.
I get so much pleasure out of spending time with my characters as I get ready to write the next part that I often reread it all even when I might not need to. It slows me down, but it sure is fun.
Shelli, that was one of my favorite quotes too. Talk about tight writing. A mere twelve words for a complete lesson about writing.
If you already mapped the plot for the whole book before you went on vacation, and you have recorded the characteristics and inner conflict of the main characters on paper for consistency, picking up from the last chapter should be sufficient.
Oh my goodness, I love this! They’re all great words of inspirational wisdom, but I think Sidney and Ray are my favorites.Thank you, Mary. I want to print your post and hang it on the fridge.
* I’m not a famous author, but I’ve given myself a rule to follow. “Just write, incomplete thoughts on a page are better than a forgotten idea.”
Sure you’re famous, Lara. God knows who you are, and reads what you write. Kind of covers all the bases in real time, eh?
Lara, I like yours as well as any of them. It is SO true! Too often that “great” idea slithers out of my mind if I don’t jot it down
If you don’t write it down, it never happened. – Tom Clancy
Great personal quote, Lara. A writer’s daily marching orders.
Thanks for the inspirational quotes!
“If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” – Da Poynter
I’m not familiar with this author, but her words hit me. I know many of us juggle career, family, and writing which can leave us drained and uninspired. I’ll remember your post next time I need a pep talk. Have a great day!
Sorry Jackie, that was a typo. It’s Dan Pointer. Yes, he called it right, didn’t he.
It’s not really a quote…I did write it down, but all of my life’s ephemera had to be destroyed for good reason at one point…but it’s something my writing mentor, Marvin Mudrick, said, paraphrased as best I can –
* Don’t try to write beautiful prose. Don’t worry about craft. Tell the story. No one cares about how well you handle words. Readers only yearn to let you touch their hearts.
For what it may be worth, Dr. Mudrick (yes, he’s till that to me) ran a masterful class in the Writing of narrative prose…NOT ‘Creative Writing’, which he abhorred.
* It was a three-hour session in which submissions would be placed on his desk, and he would read them aloud, anonymously (though it could be hard to remain anonymous when trying to will oneself into a Force-excavated hole in the floor, out of embarrassment).
* By reading them himself, he removed any personal inflections that the writer might have given. And he was fair, though occasionally he did break down in laughter when something was just too awful to continue (yes, mine).
* One of his pet peeves was the ‘sensibility story’, a vignette that highlighted the advanced sensitivity and sensibilities (“I feel your pain!”) of a character…or, worse, the author.
* I think this would be the ideal model for at least some meetings of a writers’ group; one in which the reader and recognized authority has no personal investment through his own writing being part of the mix, and can lead an evenhanded discussion.
Public embarrassment is such a good teacher! Even when no one knows it’s you.
Hi Andrew,
Touching a reader’s heart is huge, and if we don’t strive to touch the hearts of our readers, why write?
Exactly, Jackie…the funny thing is that Dr. Mudrick was an avowed atheist, yet he tolerated no snide insults to Christianity…and on the morning of his death (which was unexpected), he committed his life to Jesus.
And all the angels in heaven rejoiced!
Mary,
I LOVE this. I’m a glutton for quotes, so many of these are going to make my board. As chance would have it, my blog post today talks about ways to invest in your dreams. I think the more you have invested…time, resources, people…the less likely you are to remain discouraged when met with disappointments. Just this week, I’ve struggled with trusting what I’ve already edited/had critiqued/rewritten is good enough. The light at the end of the tunnel (i.e. the printed book on the shelf) keeps me going.
By the way…for anyone who’s interested in reading the blog post I mention above, I’d love to have you visit at http://teresatysinger.com/2016/02/04/3-ways-to-invest-in-your-dream/
Thanks for the link, Teresa…on my way there now.
So true, Teresa. Writers who work hard at improving their craft needn’t be discouraged by disappointments. They see them correctly as helps toward further improvement. Yours is an attitude for success.
I kept a quote on my door at work that helped me keep proper focus:
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. – Kermit the Frog
I like Ray Bradbury’s best about only failing when you quit trying. It’s long been a personal motto. Another one I love (don’t know the source) is “There is only one way to eat an elephant – one bite at a time.”
There’s also the saying that the black stuff under the elephant’s toenails is what’s left of those who tried to eat him one bite at a time…
Carol, I believe that quote is from Creighton Abrams, a military man. Accomplishing incremental goals applies to almost any area of life.
Thanks for the source!
Creighton Abrams was a BIG cigar smoker…makes me feel like I’m in good company! 😀
Mary, a personal note…on what has easily been my hardest morning of 2016, this post and the comments appended thereto have given me hope and uplift that have transcended pain and other things, and have turned ashes into grace.. Thank you for this.
I’m so glad they are a lift for you today, Andrew.
Beautiful encouragement, Mary.
Thanks, Cynthia. Short quotes are easily remembered for when we need their inspiration.
Mary,
I enjoyed today’s post and many of them hit home. I am glad to know that I am in great company. The quote that you posted from Ernest Hemingway inspired me the most.
Lori, I’m glad they’re helpful. Yes, virtually all writers have similar struggles. I’ve applied Hemingway’s practical advice many times, and it had worked well every time. Hopefully, it works for you too.
All great, but this is my favorite: “If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” – Da Poynter
Yes Robin, he (Dan . . . I apologize for the typo) tells it like it is, doesn’t he.
How refreshing, Mary! I love these quotes and the inspiration they bring to my mind and heart. It’s easy to get bogged down in long-term goals, but empowering to think of them as really a whole string of short-term goals that I can tackle one day at a time.
I’m happy to inject inspiration to you, Gabrielle. Gotta love the encouragement of those short-term goals that affirm daily, weekly, monthly progress.
I enjoyed reading the quotes, Mary. They encourage me. When I was a child and on into my teen years, my grandmother composed sacred music. My sisters and I sang in a trio and performed many of her songs. Grandma’s songs read like poetry and were borne out of human experience and the beauty found within every sorrow or grace. For her last concert devoted to some of her music, she wrote out the backstory to each of 67 songs. I thought of something she had written when I read your post. Here goes,
“Lacking just one month it would be two years since I had written any song. I simply did not feel like writing or playing the piano and nothing creative came to me. I began to wonder if the talent had been taken from me. In fact, I prayed about it! I had read about writers and articles in the creative world and such areas of life having DRY YEARS when nothing seemed to come forth. I decided that must be me, but how long would the DRY YEARS last? The week before I wrote the song (Down The Years), I had walked over to see my friend, an invalid. She had been a source of great encouragement regarding my songs. I was expressing myself regarding the DRY YEARS. She said, with a smile on her face, “one of these days you’ll write another song.” The following Sunday it was announced about the celebration of our pastor and his wife’s 25th wedding anniversary. So on the following morning it entered my mind that it would be nice if I could write a song in their honor. The thought was persistent and finally when I sat down at the piano a melody with some words came through, but not complete. I let it rest until the afternoon when I finished it. This was a blessing to me, because I knew I still possessed the talent. Faith S. Weigold.
Side note: I found one of Grandma’s song books, she self-published two, on Amazon, “Songs of Heavenly Praise.”
Hope you enjoyed this little diversion.
Norma, your grandma’s backstory speaks to many writers. A word of encouragement to a fellow writer or friend can be the spark one needs to keep going. Thank you for sharing this special story.
If anyone would be interested in the Psalmist’s encouragement…
* “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.” Psalm 45:1
* You can find more writer-oriented Scripture at
http://lynndove.com/2013/04/25/25-encouraging-bible-verses-for-writers/
“Always stop while you are going good and don’t think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day.” Hemingway must have written this before he got old enough to forget! And that is my writing challenge! If I forget things in the middle of a sentence, how can I expect to remember them the next day? LOL
So I write when I can until I can’t. Then in between, I write things wherever they come to me. Sometimes I write pages in a notebook I keep on the side table next to the sofa in the living room. Sometimes I write snippets on a napkin, on the edge of a statement, on a Kleenex–a clean one–anything I can find at the moment. Sometimes I write in the dark after I go to bed on a little tablet I keep in my dresser drawer about 12 inches from my bed. Then I stash the bits and pieces beside the computer until I can write again.
Of course, sometimes I have to think a bit to remember where the snippet goes, but at least I have the snippet! 🙂
Sylvia, Anne Lamott gives this same advice in her book Bird by Bird. She also suggests keeping index cards handy at all times. Alas, we’ll never remember what we don’t write down.
Love these quotes. They remind me of one of my favorites I learned while working in the corporate world, “Don’t let perfection paralyze you.” I think it can be applied to the writing world as well.
Thank you, Mary, for an inspiring post!
Gayla, this reminds me of one of my favourite quotes, from Admiral Sergei Gorchkov, late of the Soviet Navy –
“Good enough is best.”
Gayla, that’s a great quote that surely can be applied to writing. Writers want to attain perfection in what they write, but perfectionism is the other side of the not-there-yet coin. Both can discourage an author.
Mary, what a great post. It’s always refreshing to read other writers’ quotes. The one that tickled my funny bone a bit was: “If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” – Da Pointer
*My personal challenge right now is to not feel discouragement. It’s been a crazy month with a child who’s so far behind in school work, I’ve literally spent every spare minute he’s home “riding” him to help him catch up on a project he committed to. A tough life lesson for him, and a sacrifice of my timeline for me. Couple that with a traveling hubby and a torn ACL, and that about describes my life. I’ve set aside most of my writing life to make sure real life stays on track. Not meeting my personal timelines has been a bit of a discouragement. I know real life and my boys are more important than writing, and I accept that. It’s just hard to put some of my desires and dreams on hold. Okay, I’m done complaining now.
*I’m ready to keep my heart focused on the Lord’s timing and not focus on what isn’t happening right now. 🙂
*Thanks for an encouraging post, Mary.
Jeanne, my prayers are with you for the tough things you’re dealing with, and you have every right to complain.
* For what it may be worth, I have found that the hard things with which I deal become a part of my timeline; pain and frustration inform my writing, and – I hope – make it more authentic.
I completely agree with you, Andrew. Life experiences can definitely inform our writing. And I’m sure this season’s lessons will show up in more than one upcoming blog, as well as in other areas of writing. Thank you so much for your prayers!
Praying for you, Jeanne. xo
I so appreciate it, Shelli. Thank you!
Yes, Dan Pointer’s quote speaks volumes, doesn’t it. It’s a favorite among commenters today.
You surely are in a season of patience and priorities, Jeanne. In faith I know God will bless your writing when you’re able to get back to it. In the meantime, remember to write down any word or thought or idea that pops in your mind for possible use later. It may be enough for you to feel you’re maintaining activity in your writing life.
Hang in there, Jeanne. That sounds super crazy. It won’t be super crazy forever. There are just those certain times, right? I remember coming home from my first ( and only) big writer’s conference walking on air over all the possibilities (several partial requests) and getting home to find that my oldest had lymph nodes the size of peaches and driving him to the hospital the next day. 4 days in the hospital was not how I’d expected to leap into writing after that conference, but I was so so glad that it was Mono and not Leukemia (they were worried) that it felt like a gift. I’ll be praying for you and your tendon and your boys. Hang in there.
I have one that’s not a writer quote, but it sure helps with prioritization of effort when there’s too little time to do it all (a.k.a. always). There was a tremendous amount of documentation required for some projects. Some added to the quality and safety of the work; some was just an exercise in killing trees before everything went digital. For the latter requirements, my manager used to say, “Completion is the goal, not perfection.” I’m a perfectionist at heart, so this one really helped me. Maybe it’s a good one to apply to so many of the mundane tasks that expand to fill the available time and keep us from writing.
Carol, that is great time-management advice, especially for us perfectionists.
Don’t know if this will be a help, but concerning wisdom…I recently learned, courtesy Beth Vogt, that God’s promise to ‘prosper’ really means ‘to make wise’.
Indeed. Think of the verses in Proverbs that refer to wisdom being worth far more than gold or rubies.
Yes, Mary.
Thank you for your encouraging words. I’ve been frustrated at the slow pace of editing the second book in my series. I keep telling myself that quality is better than quantity. Of all the quotes listed above, I agree most with Pearl S. Buck. “Don’t wait for moods…”
You’re welcome, Shelia. Pearl’s quote spoke to me too. It takes disciplining our minds to ignore distractions and focus deeply on the incremental goal at hand.
I’ve got to save these and put them up on the wall.
I love these quotes! I’m at a place where I am ready to soak up some encouragement today. Thank you so much, Mary. These words were needed.
You’re welcome, Kristen. I’m glad to hear you’ve been encouraged.
You’re welcome, Kristen. I’m glad to hear you were encouraged.