This is a perfect place to start. If you’re anything like me, a reminder like this every now and then is valuable. Stop trying to be normal. Don’t try to fit in. You do you and make no apologies for that. Be amazing.
I love this quote. It struck a nerve for me. We put so much passion and thought and time and heart into our writing hoping to really impact people. However, we know deep down that it’s unlikely to change much of anything at all.
I also enjoyed this reply I received on twitter after tweeting a similar sentiment.
Sometimes it does change things and reach people. Write for those rare moment, Dan.
This Darcy Pattison quote is strong. Get your story out in the first draft. Just spew it out onto the page, guts and all. Then figure out what to edit and where to revise.
Today I just want to thank all the writers and authors out there for continuing to write. We know it's hard. #amwriting …Keep Writing pic.twitter.com/97o39BzY2N
Hi friends! It’s time for your favorite running column on Nothing Any Good – Author Tweets of the Week.
Before we begin, a lot of you seem to be wondering what I listen to when I write. It’s different all the time. Depends on my mood and whether my brain can handle writing and listening to music at that moment.
What am I listening to currently?
There. Now you can listen along with me while you read.
All right, let’s go.
Sometimes writing becomes a drag. The words just won’t flow. It feels like your proverbial writing tongue is fat and twisted in knot.
I like this next quote. Most quotes on social media are inspiring or funny, but there are rarely quotes that are deep. I rarely find myself pausing to contemplate the meaning of the quote.
The job of art is to go deeper and deeper into the questions posed by Life. It’s not necessarily to answer them, but good art will never avoid the questions.
In addition to not avoiding the questions, good art also…
To create something so beautiful that it breaks a heart, pierces a soul, revives them both, steals a breath, and twists a mind. #amwriting
Ohhhhhh. I’ve been doing it all wrong. This is so simple. Break hearts. Pierce souls. Put them both back together again. Take breath away. And then bend the reader’s mind. It’s a piece of cake!
I’m sharing this for a particular reason. I enjoyed this act of support that Ben & Jerry’s showed, but I was surprised at how much backlash it seemed to receive on Twitter. People were outraged that this was a shameless marketing ploy. I just have to say this. You can’t win with social media. Ben & Jerry’s is a company. Their job is to make a good product and to make money. That’s the nature of capitalism. I’m sorry.
If our companies don’t say anything, we get mad at them and say they’re not using their power and influence for good. But then once they do say something, we throw a hissy fit and say that they’re just being selfish money-grabbing pigs. We do this to our athletes too. We get mad when they don’t speak up, but when they do say something we shout, “Just shut up and play! No one wants to hear your views!”
It’s obnoxious, friends. This is a simple gesture from B&J. Will it change anything independently? Not at all. But change comes through a collective and progressive build up of pressure. Acts like this are needed by corporations.
Anyway, if you want to continue listening along with me.
Once again, Facebook won’t let me embed the next post. Don’t get me started again on their embedding feature.
This post made me crack up when I read it last night. It’s so true! Something about that guy leaning on the chair. If you asked me for my first hundred thoughts about this picture, one of them wouldn’t be, “He’s doing it wrong.” I have no idea what he’s trying to do!
Too funny. Thanks Assaph Mehr!
Good reminder for everyone. Setting boundaries. Walking away. Knowing your limits. These are all important aspects of strength.
This.
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. – Dalai Lama #quote#amwriting
There is never the right time. Never. Did I stutter? NEVER. There is never a moment when you’ll say, “This is perfect. I have nothing else to do or be or see.” It won’t happen. Don’t let there be a memory of What If in your future.
I haven’t implemented it myself, but he’s absolutely right. You will find yourself selling a number of books each week if you’re able to pull a copy out when someone says, “You’re an author? Cool! Tell me about your book.”
I don’t know if I’ll start carrying books around myself, but I like the idea. My biggest concern would be that most people don’t carry cash anymore. But maybe if I ever get my Square account set up, it’d be able to do it piece of cake.
This is a great quote. Don’t worry about running out of ideas or stories. Write the ones bouncing around in your head. More will be presented to you. Your creativity isn’t going to disappear.
In that same vein…
Your writing is all yours. Say what you want to, the way you want to. #writetip@amwriting
Great advice to remember. Strive for being succinct. But at the same time, given what we just discussed, if your style is not brevity, then write in your style. Don’t write what others want you to write, even if it is Thomas Jefferson.
When I was growing up, my parents were very fond of saying, “It builds character.” I now simultaneously love that and hate that line. Do with that what you will.
I know this is one of your favorite running segments here on Nothing Any Good. Sorry about the short hiatus from it! I was working on a new segment about which I am very excited.
We have officially kicked off Confessions of an Indie Author! You can view Episode 1 and Episode 2 now. You’ll enjoy them, I promise!
Now, get on with it, Dan!
Ok, ok. I’ll make it up to you with some extra tweets of the week for your reading pleasure. Without further ado, your Author Tweets of the Week.
Let’s kick it off with a Twitter poll I ran a couple weeks ago.
That breakdown seems about right to me. Honestly, I bet you down to a man (or a woman) these percentages probably reflect our own individual time spent on Twitter as writers. Two-fifths of the time we’re distracted. Two-fifths of the time we’re getting a healthy break. One-fifth of the time we’re actually inspired.
That sounds about right, not just as a poll of the #amwriting population, but as an individual breakdown.
Thanks for sharing this quote, @bapudliner! Great quote. If you have a story that burns inside you, tell it! Write that story, friends.
Well said! There’s only one you, friends. Be you and follow your own path. Don’t follow the masses!
I do not know A.J. Rynell and I am impressed with her dedication to the craft of writing. However, I don’t get our infatuation with word count. It needs to stop. My intent is not to call out Ms. Rynell, but to call all of us out. Every writer at some point has googled: “How many words should a novel be,” or some variation of that. We’ve all done it. Be honest.
What a silly thing to focus on. There are short books that are excellent. There are long books that are excellent. There are far too many perfectly-lengthed books that are f-ing terrible.
Let’s stop this friends. Word count is a detriment to our craft.
I love this quote. There’s something about it that resonates with me. I think many readers are frustrated with a book that doesn’t provide a full view of the back story or doesn’t fully resolve all issues. No matter how much an author tries, no matter how much the reader wants it, the story doesn’t end. It just keeps going. The sooner we realize this as writers, the better writers we will be.
This next tweet needs no additional commentary, certainly not from a white middle-aged man.
As a black woman writing a black female main character in a scifi novel, seeing my character whitewashed on the cover felt-like-erasure: pic.twitter.com/h5Nlhp8DHe
I love this. This is a concept I have explored in my writing for years. There’s a quote from one of the characters in Pieces Like Pottery: “All people have the ability to control their happiness by controlling how they think about each day and each event. Every situation turns out sour for those who are always complaining about how things turn out. We will always be affected by our own attitudes. Every response to every action affects our character.”
I wrote about this on my wife and my now-defunct blog Buris on the Couch.
I love this quote by the great Roman orator. Thank you for sharing @crassusmedia!
(As an aside, I never thought Buris on the Couch would get so much positive feedback over the years and requests to return. It’s been 6 years since we stopped it and we still hear from people saying that we should reboot it. If you haven’t, you can view all the old posts on the site. They’re still available for your reading pleasure. My wife is funnier and more intelligent than I am. If the populous gets loud enough, we may not be able to ignore you any longer.)
Now, if you’ll let me indulge the basketball junky in me.
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible NCAA Tournament Brackets. That's 9.2 quintillion! #goodluck
The honest truth, @anaisbelieve, is that none of us do. We pretend we know what we’re doing, but we don’t. That creates both the beautiful truths and the god-awful paralysis that every writer knows and experiences. Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing it. Don’t let it keep you from continuing to write, though!
We can all imagine a land that provides no support for Art. But is that a place you’d want to Live? To Visit? To Play?
My thoughts on the quote? Yes. 100 times over, Yes. In today’s loud and busy world, we miss the value of silence. The truly wise realize the power of quiet. Time is our most valuable asset, but solitude and silence come in close second for a writer.
My thoughts on the follow up to the quote? The irony is dripping. Rest in the quiet. But follow me on Facebook first!
I love this and then I love this again. When I was in law school, I taped every law firm rejection letter onto my desk as motivation. I have saved every magazine, publisher, and agent rejection notice I’ve received as a writer. They fuel and remind me. Embrace your rejections, friends.
Yes! Dr. Suess has a poem that I love so much that I had it engraved on a piggy bank that I gave to my godson: “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
There is only one you, friends. Never forget that for a moment. In this universe that’s been around for 13 billion years, on this earth that’s been turning for 4.5 billion years, with the 107 billion people that have taken a breath in this life, there is only one you. That should make you feel simultaneously small and important.
There is no one, ever, that has been like you. Not a single one of those 107 billion people that came before you are like you. Don’t try to be like any of them. Be yourself.
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