Every writer I know has trouble writing. ~Joseph Heller, satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. Author of Catch-22
You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you. And you edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~Arthur Polotnik, editor
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. ~Maya Angelou, American author and poet. Author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Personal narrative writers must manufacture a text, imposing narrative order on a jumble of half-remembered events. With that feat of manipulation they arrive at a truth that is theirs alone, not quite like that of anybody else who was present at the same events. ~William Zinsser, American writer, editor, literary critic. Author of On Writing Well.
Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for. ~Alice Walker, American author, poet, and activist. Author of Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple.
