“You know what to say, though you may have buried it so deep it needs excavating. So no more excuses, dispense with the wordplay, don't waste time being timid. Unearth it, write it.”— Quiara Alegría Hudes, twitter.com
“That’s why I write the kind of books I do! To help girls know they have worth, and will be okay in the end - like me!”— Meg Cabot, twitter.com
“I want to say something about opinion writing. It is not meant to be universal. It is not meant to address every experience. Opinion writers cannot not should not account for the whole of human experience in an essay. If you want to see something written about, write that essay. If you have an exper…”— Roxane Gay, twitter.com
“Book sales are important because that’s how writers try to make a living. But no one can or should buy every book. Libraries are vital.”— Roxane Gay, twitter.com
“I personally think a good agent is invaluable not merely for helping you sell work and negotiate contracts but for protecting you after the sale re: touring, cover design, promotion and marketing etc.”— Roxane Gay, twitter.com
“I opened envelopes and sorted things and logged things. After a while I got to read submissions. And it was some of the best writing education I've ever had. If you want to grow as a writer, volunteer at a lit mag or small press!”— Roxane Gay, twitter.com
“There is absolutely zero way to predict how your creative career will go. You could be read by a producer and get a movie tomorrow. You could hit it big 10 years from now. No one knows. The anxiety, of course, comes from the fact that it's hard to plan a future around something no one knows anything…”— Sam Sykes, twitter.com
“Let's say you write a book. You get an agent. Your agent thinks the book is flawless and requests no changes. She sells it to an editor. The editor thinks the book is flawless and requests no changes. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. STOP IMAGINING IT. So if you want to be traditionall…”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“Realtalk: Writing is a career. It has a community. You have colleagues. To suggest that you don't need or shouldn't want any of these things is ridiculous. Colleagues help each other out.”— Sam Sykes, twitter.com
“"Almost publishable" is, unfortunately, a great pat on the head into which you can't read deeper meaning. It could mean the book, or it could mean you. But it's a good sign! I'd start writing the next book. And if you're still querying, keep querying.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“Every book can't be a bestseller, obviously, and they know that. Publishers buy plenty of books that are well written to fill out their lists. That's why we have midlisters and quiet books. That's why I have a career.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“...writing is an individual journey. There's no norm. Getting an agent/sale can take 10 months or 10 years. Write the best book you can, edit it the best you can, polish the best you can, and hit the send button. Repeat until you reach your goal. You got this.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“Writing has NEVER flowed for me. Not once, not a word, not ever. I have dragged every book I’ve written, kicking and screaming, into existence.”— Myke Cole, twitter.com
“Smart writers understand that writers aren’t any smarter than anyone else.”— Saladin Ahmed, twitter.com
“there are a lot of bad stories out there doing real harm in the world it’s up to us to tell better ones”— Saladin Ahmed, twitter.com
“Writers don’t write from experience, although many are hesitant to admit that they don’t…If you wrote from experience, you’d get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.”— Nikki Giovanni, tor.com
“It's always a nice feeling, having people think that you feel things much deeper than you're allowed to say, but this isn't true. If you want to find out what a writer or a cartoonist really feels, look at his work. That's enough.”— Shel Silverstein, theatlantic.com
“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself. I like only that which serves my purpose.”— Voltaire, amazon.com
“We don’t choose our stories. Our stories choose us, and if we don’t write them, if we ignore them, we are somehow diminished. But at the same time, I don’t feel that being a writer gives any of us the right to just let it rip. To disregard the feelings of the people surrounding us. So I take care. P…”— Honor Moore, danishapiro.com