I stopped writing when I suddenly became an at-home parent. I had no idea how to make time for myself, let alone what to write about. But the less I did for myself, the less I knew myself. Six years passed, and I felt like a blank page.
Even though I thought I didn’t have any stories left within me, I started writing again. I wrote to make sense of my world and myself. I wrote to sort through the overwhelm. I wrote to offload everything weighing on my mind so I could have space to think again.
Initially, I hated what I wrote. My words felt stilted and shallow. But eventually, I found hope. I found gratitude. I found strength. I found me again. I cannot stress enough the benefits of writing. Yet I know writers continue to struggle with putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).
To help encourage and motivate the writer within you, here are 30 of my favorite writing quotes that can help you (1) make time to write, (2) explore what to write about, (3) overcome your fears, and (4) uncover why you want to write.
Making time to write
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen Covey
“I only write when I’m inspired, so I see to it that I’m inspired every morning at nine o’clock.” – Peter De Vries
“The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’ Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.” – Charles Dickens
“When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another—and ourselves.” – Jack Kornfield
“There is no one busy in this world; it’s always about priorities. You will always find time for the things you feel important.” – Nishan Pawner
“In today’s rush, we all think too much—seek too much—want too much—and forget about the joy of just being.” – Eckhart Tolle
What to write about
“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” – Ray Bradbury
“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” – Orson Scott Card
“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.” – Natalie Goldberg
“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” – Barbara Kingsolver
“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison
“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.” – George Orwell
“I start with a question. Then try to answer it.” – Mary Lee Settle
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." – John Steinbeck
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” – William Wordsworth
Overcoming your fears
“You fail only if you stop writing.” – Ray Bradbury
“Good writing is remembering detail. Most people want to forget. Don’t forget things that were painful or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that tells the truth.” – Paula Danziger
“When you finish a draft of a poem, or short story or novel, you make sure you go out and celebrate all night long because Whether the world ever notices or not, Whether you get it published or not, you did something most people never do: You started, stuck With, and finished a creative work. And that is a triumph.” – Andre Dubus III
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." – William Faulkner
"Believe in yourself, and find ways to express yourself, and find the discipline to keep growing." – Michael Feinstein
“Don’t bend, don’t water it down, don’t try to make it logical, don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” – Franz Kafka
“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.” – Stephen King
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” – Louis L’Amour
“If the book is true, it will find an audience that is meant to read it.” – Wally Lamb
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” – Jodi Picoult
“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” – Terry Pratchett
“People are going to judge you all the time no matter what you do. . . . Don’t worry about other people. Worry about you.” – Jacqueline Woodson
“By fearing judgment and vulnerability, we are blocking our personal path to wholehearted living and inner love and fulfillment.” – Emily Wysock-Wright
Why we write
“Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.” – Louisa May Alcott
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” – Anne Frank
"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect." – Anaïs Nin
“I write my life. I write to escape real life. I write to live moments over again. I write to rewrite the moments I’ve lived over in a way that makes more sense to me. I write the moments to heal. I write the moments I hope never happen. And I write the moments I hope will happen.” – R.B. O'Brien
“I write for those that have no voice, for the silent ones who've been damaged beyond repair; I write for the broken child within me.” – Nitya Prakash
“I write in order to find out what I truly know and how I really feel about certain things. Writing requires me to go much deeper into my thoughts and memories than conversation does.” – Leslie Marmon Silko
Featured photo by Paico Oficial on Unsplash
