Encouragement

Writing is wonderful and, at times, the worst. You’re not alone, we’ve all been there. In case you need it today or in this season, here is some encouragement for you to keep it up.

FIND QUOTES FROM THE TOPIC YOU NEED TO HEAR:

Bravery

• Struggles

• Uniqueness

• Patience

• The Refining Process

• Diligence

• Inspiration

• Bravery • Struggles • Uniqueness • Patience • The Refining Process • Diligence • Inspiration •

Struggle with head held high.

“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.”

William Faulkner, novelist (The Town, Absalom Absalom!) and short-story writer
“Just know that everyone’s writing is terrible. Until it’s not. No one’s stuff is right immediately. You gotta work it. Refine it. Shape it. Spend time with it. It’s a relationship.”

Ava Duvarney, writer (Selma), director (A Wrinkle in Time), producer
“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”

Ernest Hemingway, novelist (The Sun Also Rises) and short-story writer
“The easiest thing to do on earth is not to write.”

William Goldman, screenwriter (the glorious The Princess Bride), novelist, and playwright

Bravely move foward.

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyways."

John Wayne, one of the greatest actors in cinema history (Stagecoach, The Quiet Man, How the west Was Won)
“In order for there to be beauty, it requires a lot of risk because that position is inherently so vulnerable.”

Unknown
“It’s really good to do things that scare you.”

Sally Goble, long-distance swimmer who swam the English Channel solo
“You'll never know how good you can be unless you stop being nervous enough to try.”

Pharrell Williams, musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, and designer

Write your own path.

"Write your favorite movie that you haven’t seen. Don’t worry about whether it’s going to get made. Write something for yourself.”

Jordan Peele, writer (Get Out), director, actor, comedian (Key & Peele)
“Don’t try to guess what it is people want and give it to them. Don't ask for a show of hands. Try your best to write what you like, what you think your friends would like and what you think your father would like and then cross your fingers... The most valuable thing you have is your own voice.”

Aaron Sorkin, gold-standard screenwriter (Moneyball, A Few Good Men, The American President), playwright, director, and producer
“There is no path until you walk it. You have to be willing to play the fool.”

Ethan Hawke, delightfully-kind actor (Before Sunrise, Dead Poets Society), director, screenwriter, novelist

Be patient.

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

Gustave Flaubert, writer and playwright (Madame Bovary)
“In this there is no measuring with time, a year doesn’t matter, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast. I learn it every day of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for: patience is everything!”

Rainer Maria Rilke, poet and novelist (Letters to a Young Poet)
“Nothing worthwhile ever happens quickly and easily. You achieve only as you are determined to achieve...and as you keep at it until you have achieved.”

Robert H. Lauer, non-fiction author

Writing takes time—refine, refine, refine.

“There is no good writing, only good editing.”

Unknown, it’s an evolution of Hemingway’s quote “the only kind of writing is rewriting”
“There is no good writing and bad writing, there’s good writing and writing that’s not finished yet.”

Unknown
"Do your best, but don't trust your best."

Meg LeFauve, screenwriter of such works as the incomparable Inside Out 1 &2 and co-host of the brilliant podcast The Screenwriting Life
“If you’re stuck, I think, you’re just, oftentimes, trying to do all three things at once.”

Michael Arndt, screenwriter (Oblivion, Toy Story 3, Little Miss Sunshine) and famous script doctor
“It’s very easy to be right when you don’t consider the possibility of otherwise.”

Unknown, actually, it’s from me in my psychology days about conflict, yet it’s also relevant in refining art, that if we keep our mind open and listen deeply, we (and our screenplay) can keep learning and growing
“You are only as good as you can communicate. So as you improve your communication skills, you shine your light more brightly in the world.”

Vinh Giang, entrepreneur, magician, and keynote speaker

Go hard.

"One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shout it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time…give it, give it all, give it now.”

Annie Dillard, fiction and non-fiction author (The Writing Life, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek), Pulitzer Prize winner and a national treasure
“I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for over 25 years now, which reads ‘Don’t think!’ You must never think at a typewriter—you must feel. Your intellect is always buried in that feeling anyway.”

Ray Bradbury, author (Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles) and screenwriter
"In the end, most great ideas boil down to hard work."

Unknown
“The most important thing in writing is to finish. A finished thing can be fixed. A finished thing can be published. A finished thing can be made into a movie…an unfinished thing is just a dream. And dreams fade if you don’t hold on tight enough. So finish the thing.”

C. Robert Cargill, screenwriter (Doctor Strange) and novelist

Open yourself to inspiration.

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

C.S. Lewis, writer (The Great Divorce, Till We Have Faces, The Chronicles of Narnia), scholar, theologian, and the man whose writings have had the most profound impact on my life
“Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.”

G.K. Chesterton, author (Orthodoxy, Father Brown detective series) , philosopher, Christian apologist, journalist, editor, literary critic
“Who I am, my value as a person isn’t tied to my writing, I’m awesome and I love myself.”

You, right now, out loud

Encouragement

Writing is wonderful and, at times, the worst. You’re not alone, we’ve all been there. In case you need it today or in this season, here is some encouragement for you to keep it up.

Bravery

•

Struggles

•

Uniqueness

•

Patience

•

The Refining Process

•

Diligence

•

Inspiration

•

Bravery • Struggles • Uniqueness • Patience • The Refining Process • Diligence • Inspiration • Bravery • Struggles • Uniqueness • Patience • The Refining Process • Diligence • Inspiration •

“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.”

“Just know that everyone’s writing is terrible. Until it’s not. No one’s stuff is right immediately. You gotta work it. Refine it. Shape it. Spend time with it. It’s a relationship.”

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”

“The easiest thing to do on earth is not to write.”

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyways."

“In order for there to be beauty, it requires a lot of risk because that position is inherently so vulnerable.”

“It’s really good to do things that scare you.”

“You'll never know how good you can be unless you stop being nervous enough to try.”

"Write your favorite movie that you haven’t seen. Don’t worry about whether it’s going to get made. Write something for yourself.”

“There is no path until you walk it. You have to be willing to play the fool.”

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

“Nothing worthwhile ever happens quickly and easily. You achieve only as you are determined to achieve...and as you keep at it until you have achieved.”

“There is no good writing, only good editing.”

“There is no good writing and bad writing, there’s good writing and writing that’s not finished yet.”

"Do your best, but don't trust your best."

“If you’re stuck, I think, you’re just, oftentimes, trying to do all three things at once.”

“It’s very easy to be right when you don’t consider the possibility of otherwise.”

“You are only as good as you can communicate. So as you improve your communication skills, you shine your light more brightly in the world.”

"One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shout it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time…give it, give it all, give it now.”

“I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for over 25 years now, which reads ‘Don’t think!’ You must never think at a typewriter—you must feel. Your intellect is always buried in that feeling anyway.”

"In the end, most great ideas boil down to hard work."

“The most important thing in writing is to finish. A finished thing can be fixed. A finished thing can be published. A finished thing can be made into a movie…an unfinished thing is just a dream. And dreams fade if you don’t hold on tight enough. So finish the thing.”

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

“Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.”

“Who I am, my value as a person isn’t tied to my writing, I’m awesome and I love myself.”

Bravery • Struggles • Uniqueness • Patience • The Refining Process • Diligence • Inspiration •