#writing

Predictions are uttered by prophets (free of charge); by clairvoyants (who usually charge a fee, and are therefore more honored in their day than prophets); and by futurologists (salaried). Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist's business is lying. ↗

— Ursula K. Le Guin

#business

I read the way a person might swim, to save his or her life. I wrote that way too. ↗

— Mary Oliver

#writing #life

To become better writers we must become the best thieves and liars in the business. We slink around the pages of everyone else’s work and shove it into our pockets. Then we run home and try to make it our own. ↗

— Chris Stocking

#business

Even when I ran my bar I followed the same policy. A lot of customers came to the bar. If one in ten enjoyed the place and said he'd come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it another way, it didn't matter if nine out of ten didn't like my bar. This realization lifted a weight off my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure that the one person who did like the place really liked it. In order to make sure he did, I had to make my philosophy and stance clear-cut, and patiently maintain that stance no matter what. This is what I learned through running a business. ↗

— Haruki Murakami

#philosophy #porup #running #writing #business

I have people in my life, of course. Some write; some don't. Some read; some don't. Some stare vacantly into space when I talk the geeky talk and walk the geeky walk, but they make killer chocolate chip pancakes and so all is forgiven. ↗

— Rob Thurman

#writing #life

What I don't get about "traditional publishing" is that an author creates a work that they think is good enough to be published. They then have to spend their valuable time begging others to exploit them to point where they end up with a 5% stake in THEIR business. What kind of a screwed of business model is that? ↗

— David Nicol

#writing-life #business

There is a long time in me between knowing and telling. ↗

— Grace Paley

#change

a true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life. ↗

— Tobias Wolff

#life #writing #change

I could write stories; I could hide from the world and make my own instead of trying to change it or live in it. I could make paper people and I would love them too; I could make them almost real. ↗

— Ally Condie

#change

Writers seldom choose as friends those self-centered characters who are never in trouble, never make mistakes, and always count their change as it is handed to them. ↗

— Catherine Drinker Bowen

#writing #change