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The best course I ever took at college was a…course in Shakespearian literature…I learned more about political communications in that one semester from a Catholic nun than I learned in any political science course. It made me aware of the power of language and how telling a story—a political campaign is a story about big issues, but you have to…create a story-line…
—Rove, Karl. July 29, 2012. “Freakonomics Goes to College.” Freakonomics podcast.
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If you divide up the time it takes for me to do research and the time it takes for me to write, it takes me twice as long to write than to research, because I labor over it. Sometimes people try to be complimentary and say, "it must be wonderful to sit down and let it all flow out in that lyrical prose that you are sometimes capable of," and I say, "see that paragraph, it took two days!"
—Robert Ellis
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Like many writers, I’m often too close to my work to see it clearly, and a fresh pair of eyes can be invaluable. Kindness is a luxury I can’t afford: I need my readers to be straight with me. It stings when they trash my drafts, but once I get over my defensiveness, I’m grateful. Writers must kill their “darlings,” it’s often said, but sometimes you need a friend to take the first stab.
—Deborah Landau in The Wall Street Journal. “The Best Readers Are Merciless Friends.” C12. March 31 & April 1, 2012.
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“Never start a sentence with a comma.” That's the only rule in publishing, said Bill Brohaugh, former editorial for Writer's Digest Books, speaking at a Mid-America Publishers Association conference. He continued, “Everything after that is up for discussion.”
—Chris Roerden in Don't Sabotage Your Submission.
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It was like starting to write a novel. When I face the desolute impossibility of writing five hundred pages a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. This happens every time. Then gradually I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate...
—John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley
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