Deep in the process of writing my next book, all those who have come before me, all my writing teachers, inspire me daily to keep putting words on the page.

Here are a few gems that I hope will inspire you, whatever your art is. We all have some endeavor that calls forth our creative juices, even if it doesn’t fall into the traditional definition of what art is. Whether you write or not, I think these writers have something to say to all of us.

 

Misty River

Misty River

You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.
― William Faulkner

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
― Ernest Hemingway

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.
― Madeleine L’Engle

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

You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.
― Saul Bellow

I am thankful for small mercies. I compared notes with one of my friends who expects everything of the universe, and is disappointed when anything is less than the best, and I found that I begin at the other extreme, expecting nothing, and am always full of thanks for moderate goods.
― Ralph Waldo Emerson