On my shelf this week:
On Writing, by Stephen King
The Wanderer, by Sharon Creech
If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
This week I’m re-reading an old writing classic from Stephen King and reading a children’s book with the 5-year-old and another young adult book I have to admit I’m only readying because there’s a movie. I’m one of those must-read-the-book-before-I-see-the-movie people.
Best quotes so far:
“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair—the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”
Stephen King
“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. If one is writing for one’s own pleasure, that fear may be mild—timidity is the word I’ve used here. If, however, one is working under deadline—a school paper, a newspaper article, the SAT writing sample—that fear may be intense.”
Stephen King
“Writing is refined thinking.”
Stephen King
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
Stephen King
Read any of these? Tell us what you thought.
Or tell us what’s on your shelf.
