#writing

You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished. ↗

— Will Self

#exposure #inadequacy #prose #self-criticism #writing

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

The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words. ↗

— William H. Gass

#writing #change

Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They depen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#reading #writing #change

Every word a woman writes changes the story of the world, revises the official version. ↗

— Carolyn See

#women #writing #change

I wish my stove came with a Save As button like Word has. That way I could experiment with my cooking and not fear ruining my dinner.
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#experiment #experimentation #fear #food #innovation

If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write. ↗

— Martin Luther

#impact #writing #change

People always ask me if I’m into sports, and I say, “Well, isn’t writing a sport? If you’re doing it right, and you have a deadline, you should be sweating.”
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— Jarod Kintz

#change