30 Quotes to Boost a Writer’s Spirit

Last year’s round-up of quotes from authors who have been featured on
Writing and Wellness was a big success.

(You can read those here.)

So of course I wanted to do it again this year. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a yearly tradition.

Here you go—great quotes from 2016. Thank you to all the authors who contributed!

 

“Learning to write takes time and first drafts are simply that,
important beginnings but not usually close to an end product.”
~Patty Somlo

“My grandma used to say, ‘Never let self-doubt drive your car.
It rides in the back seat.'”
~Mindy Halleck

“Young writers tend to overestimate their skills, then when they realize just how far they are from writing at a professional level, they get discouraged or think they’re bad writers. Not so. It just takes time to learn something so complex and advanced. Pushing past that hump is hard for some young writers, but important and worth it.”
~Donna Cook

“Writing is an emotional roller coaster. There are moments of tears, of giving up, of wanting to throw away your manuscript. Then, just when you’ve given up hope, there are moments of sheer ecstasy.”
~Lindsay Detwiler

“By no means am I the only one who’s put in hours of work that have yielded no results. It’s never easy, looking at all those documents, knowing how much time went into them and that nothing will come of it. But, that’s how writing goes. Chuck Palahniuk, I think, said that writing is the art of wasting pages. If he thinks so, it’s ok for us to waste plenty of pages as well, and not let that hang over us.”
~Joshua Isard

“To keep my spirits up and to maintain a positive outlook as my writing career grows and changes, I regularly meditate and use affirmations. I try to be out in nature as often as possible, even if it’s only in my own backyard. The sunlight on my face and the birds serenading me from the trees keeps me calm and peaceful, loving life and the blessings that fill it.”
~Trisha Faye

“All I can do is ‘share my soul,’ as Paulo Coelho puts it. When I focus on that, rather than what the outside world thinks of my work, everything falls into place.”
~Jennifer Bernard

“If a new writer was curious about the obstacles they’d face, I’d say the first one is the writing. You have to enjoy writing, editing and re-writing. They’re all part of the process. There’s really no getting around that one.”
~J. P. McClean

“More than once, I considered giving up, but mostly I just needed to take a break, reassess my priorities, focus on the good things in my life, and then welcome writing back into my life in a way that didn’t allow it to define my sense of self-worth.”
~Everly Frost

“I try to keep in mind that not everyone is going to “get” what I write, even and especially close friends who feel that they know me well. Thus, I’ve learned to keep the writing part of my life separate from friends and family (unless they ask, of course).”
~J. T. Twissel

---

“The greatest obstacle to my writing career has always been me.”
~Kathy Gottberg

“Fiction writing is not for the faint of heart. It takes drive and determination. It takes dealing with disappointment and rejection. Stay focused on learning and improving the craft. Don’t give up and, eventually, things will fall into place.”
~Chuck Barrett

“I’ve always been a spiritual person, and writing makes me feel more connected to my soul and the universe.”
~S. L. Saboviec

“Rejection is my biggest pitfall as a writer. Am I good enough? Mark Twain said he could live two weeks on a compliment. I’m that kind of person too. I crave good reviews, but—happily—I don’t become undone by bad ones. If Jane Austen has her critics, then who am I to complain if someone doesn’t care for my novel?”
~Jennifer Froelich

“I’ve gotten a lot of rejections, so that’s always hard. However, I think failure can be a great teacher. If we succeed too much, we risk becoming arrogant and thinking there’s nothing more to learn. As one of my recent students wisely said, ‘Failure is somewhat of a gift,’ especially when it helps us become better writers, readers, thinkers.”
~Celeste McMaster

“No doubt, there are times when you need to buckle down. But there are also times when you need to stop what you are doing and tend to your wellbeing.”
~Elizabeth Haltom

“… there will be times when you hate what you’re writing and are convinced it’s garbage. Don’t delete it—just keep writing. Later, when the doubt fades a little and you read what you’ve written, you’ll realize it’s not so bad after all.”
~Melanie Hooyenga

“…if you’re going to take writing seriously, you can’t be upset about how much work it is and how exhausted you are by the time you fall asleep. Embrace it as part of the journey and eventually, if you stick with it long enough you’ll find your equilibrium.”
~Jamie Jo Hoang

“The hardest part might well be shoving aside peer pressure, advertising pressure, corporate world pressure, religious pressure, pop culture pressures, and much of today’s media wash, so that you can be your own person, thinking independently, developing your own ideas, flexing your own creative muscles and establishing a clear voice/vision that’s your own, not derivative.”
~Eric E. Wallace

“If you want to be a writer, you have to force the writing time in.”
~Tiana Warner

“Take care of your mental health. As much as your physical health is important, your mental health is too. You wouldn’t tell a person with a broken leg to suck it up, so why live with depression, or anxiety when you should take some time for you? Take care of you, because this is the only body, and brain you’ll ever have.”
~Katherine Bogle

“Choosing projects that suit you is a great way to avoid getting off track.”
~Lawson Reinsch

“Writing isn’t all about money and fame. It’s about the journey of telling the stories that need to be told. As long as a writer does that, they are not a failure.”
~Mary Frances Gualandri

“Almost everyone you meet has a book in them. They have all of the ideas and they know just what they want to write and when you ask why they haven’t yet, you get a barrage of excuses. The true reason is that it’s just plain hard to gather not only the motivation to start, but the discipline to finish.”
~Jean Nicole Rivers

“Surround yourself with people who support your dreams; they’ll be important on those days you want to run and hide, of which there will be plenty.”
~Katie Harrison

---

“I suppose my mantra is, I can only do what I can do,
and I’ll get there when I get there.”
~Marcy Hatch

“The hardest part of creation is that not everyone will see your light shining through your work. Some people will be apathetic and some downright mean. Do not let them silence your voice. Do what you do for the pure love of it. Focus on the beauty and the soul of your art and allow that to be your motivation, your purpose your, your reward.”
~Sabrina York

“I think almost anyone who has written a book has felt at some point that they just can’t see it through.”
~Linda Egenes

“That would be my advice to others—once you’ve found that natural style (and it’s different for everyone) just stick with it. Don’t write in a way that you’re not comfortable with—your readers will notice.”
~Simon Williams

“Shine as bright as you are,
and ignite the world with your wonder.”

~Sara Secora