By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills

We writers value writing quotes that speak to us. We share them and tape them above our computer screens. We create memes and post them on social media. These precious gems of wisdom can inspire, encourage, make us laugh, or kick us in the seat of the pants.

Sometimes writer quotes dump reality into our creative veins.

Listed below are a few favorites that I use when I need a prescription for what ails me or my story.

Inspire

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it’s about, but the inner music that words make.
Truman Capote

A wounded deer leaps the highest.
Emily Dickinson

Choreography is writing on your feet.
Bob Fosse

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.
Gustave Flaubert

Encourage

Writing’s still the most difficult job I’ve ever had – but it’s worth it.
John Grisham

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
E. L. Doctorow

It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
Ernest Hemingway

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.
William Faulkner

The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.
A. B. Yehoshua

Kick in the Pants

You fail only if you stop writing.
Ray Bradbury

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.
E. B. White

Writing is an extreme privilege but it’s also a gift. It’s a gift to yourself and it’s a gift of giving a story to someone.
Amy Tan

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
Sylvia Plath

Nothing haunts us like the things we don’t say.
Mitch Albom

Make us Laugh

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.
E. L. Doctorow

I can’t write five words but that I change seven.
Dorothy Parker

Half my life is an act of revision.
John Irving

If Moses were alive today he’d come down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and spend the next five years trying to get them published.
Anonymous

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.
Christopher Hampton

Reality – My personal favorite

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I’m always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system.
Flannery O’Connor

DiAnn Mills

Writers need constructive criticism not empty compliments.

When God created writers, He knew the best of His people would pen the best of His words

What is one of your favorite writer quotes?

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. Library Journal Best Books 2014: Genre Fiction award in the Christian Fiction category for Firewall.

DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Suspense Sister, and International Thriller Writers. She is co-director of The Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and The Author Roadmap with social media specialist Edie Melson. She teaches writing workshops around the country. DiAnn is active online and would love to connect with readers on any of the social media platforms listed at www.diannmills.com.

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