Writer Quotes about Writing

About Writing: I enjoy collecting quotes from famous writers about their craft. Many of these quotes resonate strongly with me as a writer dealing with all the challenges that every writer faces in one way or another.

These are just a few quotes that spoke to me. Many of these ideas can be applied to other creative arts as well. It's just part of the artist's temperament to be challenged in these ways.

Knowing that many other writers have gone through these same inner struggles is comforting. We are not alone; even in our aloneness of the creative moment, we are not alone.

"You don't live there always when you write. Mostly it's a long hard walk. Sometimes it's a trudge through the fog, and you're scared you've lost your way and can't remember why you set out in the first place… But sometimes you fly, and that pays for everything." – Neil Gaiman.

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

"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." – Toni Morrison.

"Every writer I know has trouble writing." – Joseph Heller.

"Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book, your composition of yourself is at stake." – E.L. Doctorow.

"A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." – Thomas Mann.

"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. Without research, without background, without understanding, it's nothing. It's just bibble-babble." – Harlan Ellison.