In so many words

In So Many Words

Nicki Ehrlich

At a recent book talk, someone asked if I had a favorite quote about writing. Even though I started last month’s column with a quote by Leo Tolstoy, I was unprepared for the question. In the moment, none came to mind. The query haunted me. I returned home and lost myself in the forest of witty and wise.

Tom Robbins, in Still Life with Woodpecker, said,

“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”

I live my happy childhood when I swim, ride a bike, when I read, and when I write; activities that offer moments of unfettered joy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

If the world is trying to make you something other than the writer you know you are, then surely whatever you’re able to put on the page today is a great accomplishment.

Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones) speaks to persistence when she says,

“Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take youwhere you need to go.”

Stephen King knows how to give us a bit of a kick in the pants.

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

I’m not into the horror genre, but I did read and love King’s On Writing, and a reader- friend told me I had to read 11/22/63…so I did. I would say it was hard to put down, but at 850 pages, it did get heavy. But I hardly noticed as I relived the 60s, lost in King’s adeptness.

Where do you get your ideas? I agree with John Steinbeck:

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

I’ve never had trouble coming up with ideas. The trouble starts once you get one.

Annie Proulx says,

“You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.”

Toni Morrison prompts,

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

Jodi Picoult cautions,

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

I think Margaret Atwood would agree when she says:

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”

This important quote from Mark Twain isn’t just about writing.

“Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, and the dream will take care of itself.”

Have you been taught to write what you know? Here’s what Ursula K. LeGuin has to say about it.

“I think it’s a very good rule and have always obeyed it. I write about imaginary countries, alien societies on other planets, dragons, wizards, the Napa Valley in 22002. I know these things, I know them better than anybody else possibly could, so it’s my duty to testify about them.”

In this month of Thanksgiving and always, gratitude is a great place to start and end. Voltaire said it eloquently.

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”

May we have lots to be thankful for this month and always.