I learned...that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.

Olaf by the Norwegian government. Brenda Ueland (October 24 1891 - March 5 1985) was a journalist editor freelance writer and teacher of writing. She went on to marry two more times first to Manus McFadden the editor of the Minneapolis Times then to Sverre Hanssen a Norwegian artist.

She is best known for her book If You Want to Write: A Book about Art Independence and Spirit.