This is Cheating

2024 Slice of Life Day 22

I admit it. It’s cheating. I’m going to copy and paste some words of wisdom from writers as my slice today. But I have a really good reason. It’s the last day before spring break and I spend the whole day grading and trying to get kids to finish thier work - it’s also the last day of the quarter. But I have a busy evening and I won’t have time to post anything. Sorry for the cheat, but I’ll explain later. :)

This is from Janey Burton’s website:

READ

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” Stephen King

“The only way anybody ever learns to write well is by trying to write well. This usually begins by reading good writing by other people, and writing very badly by yourself, for a long time.” Ursula K. Le Guin

“Read, read, read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” William Faulkner

RESEARCH

“Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliché, it’s the key to victory over fear and its cousin, depression.” Robert McKee

“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.” Samuel Johnson

“’Google’ is not a synonym for ‘research.’” Dan Brown

WRITE!

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

“Looking back I imagine I was always writing. Twaddle it was too. But better far write twaddle or anything, anything, than nothing at all.” Katherine Mansfield

“There is no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.” Terry Pratchett

Again, I’m sorry for the cheat, but it’s all great advice!

Dream Out Loud,

rg