There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
I try to leave out the parts readers skip.
It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.
The road to hell is paved with adverbs.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The road to hell is paved with leeks and potatoes
Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.
The road to Hell is paved with unbought stuffed dogs.
A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
Easy reading is damn hard writing.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.
Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.
You learn by writing short stories. Keep writing short stories. The money's in novels, but writing short stories keeps your writing lean and pointed.
or simply:
