How are you doing with your writing?
This week we start from the beginning
Why do we write?
Every writer has a reason for writing. For some they were experimenting ,others it is a calling , a voice that won’t let go.
Here are ten quotes from famous writers on why writers write:
1. “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anaïs Nin
2. “I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.” – Joss Whedon
3. “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” – Anne Frank
4. “We write to discover what we believe.” – Joan Didion
5. “I write to give voice to the things I wish I could say.” – Cheryl Strayed
6. “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” – Flannery O’Connor
7. “We write to taste life in the moment and in retrospection. We write to be able to transcend our life, to reach out to others and to allow them to reach out to us.” – Octavia Butler
8. “I write because it’s the only way to make sense of the chaos that resides within me.” – Charlotte Eriksson
9. “Writing is the only way I have to explain my own life to myself.” – Pat Conroy
10. “I write because I want more than one life; I insist on a wider selection. It’s greed, plain and simple.” – Anne Tyler
Writing Prompt
One of the biggest problems as a beginner writer is coming up with unique ideas to write about.
The Best way to start is from our experience.
Here’s what the Nobel Prize writer Kazuo Ishiguro has to say.
I was keeping a diary, in this kind of pastiche Kerouac prose. Every day I would write what happened: Day 36. Met so-and-so. We did this. When I got home, I took these thick diaries and sat down and wrote out two of the episodes, in depth, using a first-person narrator. One was about the time my guitar was stolen in San Francisco.
Kazuo Ishiguro, interviewed by Susannah Hunnewell, The Art of FIction No. 196, 2008.
Tips to apply
- Keep a Journal
- Use the diary entry to write a short fiction or short nonfiction.
This method is easier as you get to write everyday in your journal while using the entries to write a short fiction weekly.
The goal of the writer is to make the boring interesting. Give us the story.
Joke of The Week
What did the writer do when he got a rejection letter?
He framed it and hanged it as a proof of his commitment to the craft.
Resources
I found a book recommendations tool (website) that recommends books based on your favorite three books. It’s free , no sign up required to try it.
https://www.librarian-ai.com/
Question
Why do you write?