Writing Quotes

"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say" -- Anais Nin

"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt" -- Sylvia Plath

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart" -- William Wordsworth

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions" -- James Michener

"Writing is both mask and unveiling" -- E.B. White

"Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted" -- Jules Renard

"Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will" -- Goethe

What is your favorite writing quote?

The Power Of "Point Of View"

Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a brief and free weekly newsletter on her website. Subscribe by going to the Publication Coach.

How To Find Your Voice

When you speak or sing, you use your voice. And you do the same when you write. Only here "voice" is much more elusive. Getting your hands around the whole idea of writing voice is a bit like trying to grab a slippery pup. It keeps wiggling and slipping away. Well, I'd like to try to pin that puppy down. What are the elements of voice? How can you find your own? And what mechanical tricks and tools can you use to help?

Let's start by looking at how you reveal yourself as a writer. In other words, I want to talk about point of view. If you'll forgive me, we need to start with a teensy little trip to grammar-land. Let's conjugate the verb "to write."

First person singular: I write
First person plural: we write

Second person singular: you write
Second person plural: you write

Third person singular: he, she, one -- writes
Third person plural: they write

Ok -- that's six different points of view. Which should you choose when you write? Let's take a closer look.

The first person singular is passionate and opinionated. But if you use it too often (think of many blogs) it can seem self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing. No one wants to read text where the message is I-I-I-me-me-me all the time. Still the utter absence of first person can make it sound as though you're reluctant (or maybe even too weak or uninformed) to give your opinion.

The first person plural is sympathetic and warm and helps show the writer as someone who is willing to put him or herself in the readers' shoes. For example, consider the sentence:

"When we write, we're often too quick to criticize our own work."

By expressing the thought this way, the author is saying "hey, you're not alone; I'm one of you!" But be aware that the "we" voice can also come across as patronizing (think of a nurse asking: "And how are we feeling today?")

The second person (both singular and plural) is friendly and inclusive. It makes readers feel as though you are speaking directly to them. In the fourth sentence of this newsletter, I wanted to make the greased pig image come alive, so I used the word "you." On the other hand, "you" can also come across as bossy: "You must sign up by March 30 if you want to receive the pension plan benefits." And if overused it can sound aggressive -- like a salesperson who repeats your name too many times.

The third person is more cool, measured and formal. The overall impact is much more authoritative -- but this comes at the expense of friendliness. Here are some examples: "One can assume that the school board made a serious error." Or: "The typical student receives inadequate instruction in mathematics in grades 9-12." These types of statements are cut and dried and, often, a little bit intimidating.

So the question remains -- how do you know which point of view to use? I recommend you start -- as always -- by considering your audience. A scientific, academic or formal business report probably requires the third person for a good part of the time. But web copy, e-zines, employee publications, memos and e-mail almost always benefit from the informality of the second person ("you").

Remember that you are allowed some flexibility and you don't have to stick slavishly to one point of view for the whole piece of writing. If you are recommending a product or action, for instance, you will want to slip into the first person from time to time -- either singular or plural -- and there's nothing wrong with that. Just be aware that you're doing this and strive to make the transition easy for your readers.

And one final footnote for corporate writers: I urge you to avoid locutions like, "XYZ Company is a 100-year-old firm and we pride ourselves on..." The problem is not so much the mix between the third person ("XYZ Company") and first person ("we") - it's the overall impression that the company cares more about itself than its customers. I'd rewrite focusing on the customer's perspective: "Are you fed up with software that comes with no support? At XYZ Company, we've developed a way to ensure you get the answers you need promptly..." Now that's a voice I want to hear!

What writing voice do you have?

Sharing My Poetry

Written Works Collection: Poetry

From time to time, I like to share some of the things I have written. I write poetry most of the time at the spur of the moment. I wrote this poem with someone in mind that I know. This person chose to isolate himself and is now living a lonely life.

It Is My Birthday Today

It is my birthday today, yet, who besides me, will celebrate?
I had almost forgotten it was my day
I remember happier times with loved ones near
But, now, it is a very lonely year
Why is that I wonder? Way too much to ponder
My life is passing me by, I hold back tears, I will not cry!

It is my birthday today, another year of life
I must be thankful for that, and not look back
The candles on the cake are melting
I sing myself happy birthday
What have I done? No one remembers I was born
But I am the only one to blame, I pushed them all away

It is my birthday today, I wish it was like yesterday
Family and friends all around
Loving and laughter filling the house
I will go to bed now, hugging my pillow
Counting sheep, longing for sleep
Today will be over soon

A WRITER'S PERSPECTIVE

"What a joy it is to be at peace with who you are and where you are in your life." -- T.D. Jakes

For a year now I have been committed to writing every day, whether it makes sense or not. In this writing journey I have learned that before I can genuinely write, I need to open myself up and not be afraid or hold back. I feel liberated through writing. My mind has opened up tremendously in the course of this past year, and it has facilitated my writing. I cannot be true if I do not expose the person I am inside, I cannot shut out parts of me I may not like and just show the parts I do. I feel I have grown as a person and as a writer, but only because I wanted to. The opportunity to change and "fix" me, allowed writing to follow more naturally. Anything inspirational and/or motivational opens up my creative soul and allows my writing to have more meaning.

The key to all this, I found, is to change the way you think, feel and do things. How do you motivate yourself to change? Why Change? What is in it for me? I can make a list of the advantages and long term results of what change can do for me. I like to shake things up a bit, think outside the box and grow in a positive, healthy, and spiritual manner. I can see that each day I live I experience something different; where will this experience take me? Who will I become from this? There has to be something I can take away from life's trials, happy moments, etc., so that I can reach out and touch someone with it. Writing has opened up a whole new world for me and the writing possibilities are endless.

What is your perspective on writing?

A Family Writing Affair

My daughters and I all like to read a lot and write even more. Somehow it is in our blood. My 23 year old likes to read Stephen King and writes a lot of his type of novels. I keep encouraging her to actually finish one of her stories so that she can actually submit it in a contest or do a query for it. She has a very creative mind and many good ideas. I think she is afraid of rejection and criticism. In all the time she has been writing, she has only shared one or two of her written stories with me. I will ask her to give me one or two excerpts from one of her novels to share on my blog.

My 14 year old likes to mostly write poetry, usually involving something she is feeling strongly about. She reads Young Adult novels dealing with current teenage issues, such as peer pressure, drugs, the opposite sex, as well as modern romance, nothing too mushy though. Recently, in her English class, the students were asked to write a poem using certain vocabulary words. I asked her if I could share what she wrote on my blog and she said yes. So here it is:

TEMPTATIONS
by Samantha-Anne

When temptations seem gaudy and glamorous
The voice in my head gets annoying and clamourous

I try to vanquish all that it said
But voices get louder and over crowd my head

They keep at it unitl it enters and beguiles my mind
That's when my beliefs and values are left behind

Now that I have done what I didn't want to do
It feels like I intered my heart

Now what I have to do
Is make sure temptations never again tear me apart


A family that writes together, sticks together, right? Is writing in your family too?

The Write Feelings

"Even psychologists tell us that verbalizing our problems, whether in writing or out loud, is a good way to bring clarity and definition to what are often very confusing feelings. Suddenly, as we put our feeling into words, we begin actually to see things more clearly ourselves". -- David Jeremiah

This quote hit the spot for me because it is one of the reasons why I write, especially when I am facing a problem or I am going through an emotional rollercoaster. Once I see the words on the paper, it is like a weight has been lifted and now the problem, issue, whatever, is on the piece of paper. I can now more objectively look at it, and hopefully come up with a solution and/or feel better, with less "clutter" in my head. Some questions to ask yourself: Does writing motivate you to take some action based on what you wrote? Does it help you resolve an issue, problem, something you had been putting off?

There are other things I feel after I write, and it may not always make me feel better. Sometimes writing about one thing, brings out other things. Writing makes me feel:

Relief
At peace
More confused
Less confused
Creative
Alive
Able to conquer the world
Sad
Happy
Motivated/Inspired
Problem solver

What feelings does writing invoke in you?

Poem by Maya Angelou

by Maya Angelou

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...

enough money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own,
even if she never wants to or needs to...
something perfect to wear if the employer,
or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..

a youth she's content to leave behind....
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her old age....
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ........

a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family...
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal,
that will make her guests feel honored....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..

a feeling of control over her destiny...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW....

how to fall in love without losing herself..
how to quit a job,
break up with a lover,
and confront a friend without;
ruining the friendship....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW....

when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..
that her childhood may not have been perfect....but it's over....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

what she would and wouldn't do for love or more....
how to live alone.... even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. .

whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table..
or a charming Inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

What she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...and a year...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...

enough money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own,
even if she never wants to or needs to...
something perfect to wear if the employer,
or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..

a youth she's content to leave behind....
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her old age....
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ........

a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family...
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal,
that will make her guests feel honored....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..

a feeling of control over her destiny...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW....

how to fall in love without losing herself..
how to quit a job,
break up with a lover,
and confront a friend without;
ruining the friendship....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW....

when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..
that her childhood may not have been perfect....but it's over....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

what she would and wouldn't do for love or more....
how to live alone.... even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. .

whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table..
or a charming Inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

What she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...and a year...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...

enough money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own,
even if she never wants to or needs to...
something perfect to wear if the employer,
or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..

a youth she's content to leave behind....
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her old age....
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ........

a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family...
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal,
that will make her guests feel honored....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ..

a feeling of control over her destiny...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW....

how to fall in love without losing herself..
how to quit a job,
break up with a lover,
and confront a friend without;
ruining the friendship....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW....

when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..
that her childhood may not have been perfect....but it's over....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

what she would and wouldn't do for love or more....
how to live alone.... even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.. .

whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table..
or a charming Inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing....

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

What she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...and a year...


What would you add as to what a woman should know and/or have?

FATS WALLER'S SECRET TO GETTING ON A WRITING ROLL

Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a brief and free weekly newsletter on her website. Subscribe by going to the Publication Coach.

When you're undertaking a big writing project -- say a book, a large report or a website -- or even a medium-sized project, like a magazine article, it's easy to get overwhelmed. The usual advice, which I'm sure you've heard several million times before, is to break the work into small, manageable chunks.

Even Mark Twain was rather humourless on this point. "The secret of getting ahead is getting started," he wrote. "The secret of getting started," he continued, "is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."

Efficiency guru Brian Tracy says much the same thing, but more colourfully, in his book titled Eat That Frog. (I'm going to trust that you get the metaphor.)

I love this "start small" concept, but I've noticed that, with writing, it sometimes falls apart. That's because you tend to forget the details of what you were doing the previous day (or week), and you lose your place. Worse still, you lose your momentum.

As I worked on my book, 8-1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better, I decided I really had to wrestle with this momentum problem. Each morning, sometimes starting as early as 5 a.m., I'd write for an hour or two. I'd be sleepy and disoriented and not feeling very motivated. My solution? I decided I need direction. So, at the end of each day's work, I sat down and wrote myself a letter that I could read the next morning.

It pleases me to call this the Fats Waller secret, after his famous song, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter. (I know the music was written by Fred. E. Ahlert and the lyrics by Billy Williams but I stick by my title because Waller was the one who made the song a hit.)

In my letter to myself, I outline the specific writing tasks I need to do the next day. I might give myself instructions such as, "create a mindmap about XYZ." Or I might write, "perhaps a metaphor about "xx" would work in here." With experience, I also discovered that it's sometimes best to have a spectacularly easy task to begin my writing day, so, from time to time, I would assign myself the job of producing a simple sidebar or a list of bullets. The key thing is, I write these instructions to myself after a time of being thoroughly immersed in the project. Thus, when I come back to it, the letter brings me fully up to speed without wasting any time.

The Fats Waller secret works for more than just writing. Right now, I'm editing my books, which means I have to read each chapter many, many times. This involves a lot of stop and go. To keep track of my work, I write detailed notes to myself at the top of the document. If there are problem paragraphs or sections (especially ones pointed out to me by my trusted advance readers), I highlight the trouble spots in a different colour, so that I can find them quickly. I also write myself some notes directly in the text, again in a different coloured type, outlining the nature of the problems.

In this manner, I hope I can produce

...words oh so sweet

They're gonna knock me off my feet...

Thank you, Mr. Fats Waller.