Act of writing quotes:

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I'm a writer, and the subject is less important than the act of writing itself. -- Jess Walter
The correctness and quality of what you write do not matter; the act of writing does. -- Natalie Goldberg
I'm excited about the idea of an act of theatre triggering a parallel creative act of writing. -- Tim Crouch
However great a man's natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once. -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past where time hovers ghostlike. -- Ralph Ellison
The act of writing is a kind of catharsis, a liberation, but I never really concerned myself with that. I write because it interests me. -- Nathalie Sarraute
I always talk to my students about the need to write for the joy of writing. I try to sort of disaggregate the acclaim from the act of writing. -- Kim Edwards
I have long observed that the act of writing is viewed, by some, as an elite and otherworldly act, all the more so if a person isn't paid for what she writes. -- Joyce Maynard
One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. To put myself in the position of writing to find out what I was writing. -- E. L. Doctorow
The act of writing... is the act of trying to understand why my opinion is what it is. And ultimately, I think that's the same experience the reader has when they pick up one of my books. -- Jodi Picoult
With drawing, I am acutely aware of creating something on a sheet of paper. It is a sensual act, which you cannot say about the act of writing. In fact, I often turn to drawing to recover from the writing. -- Gunter Grass
I won't say that writing is therapy, but for me, the act of writing is therapy. The ability to be productive is good for my mental health. It's always better for me to be writing than vegetating on some couch. -- Raymond E. Feist
Acting is contained - you act for three months, then leave it - but writing is the act of creation. Writing is dangerous. -- Sophie Marceau
Romanticizing the act of writing or any other art is not very helpful to the artist or the art. It's much better if one simply does. -- Anne Roiphe
For me, most of the anxiety and difficulty of writing takes place in the act of not writing. It's the procrastination, the thinking about writing that's difficult. -- Adam Mansbach
In many ways, writing is the act of saying 'I,' of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying, 'Listen to me, see it my way, change your mind.' It's an aggressive, even a hostile act. -- Joan Didion
The ambivalence of writing is such that it can be considered both an act and an interpretive process that follows after an act with which it cannot coincide. As such, it both affirms and denies its own nature. -- Paul de Man
Inspiration comes from the act of writing. -- Steve Doll
The greatest occupation is the act of writing. -- Lailah Gifty Akita
Perhaps the act of writing is necessary when nothing happens. -- Kobo Abe
The act of writing is the act of making soul, alchemy. -- Gloria E. AnzaldÃºa
A writer will do anything to avoid the act of writing. -- William Zinsser
The act of writing itself is done in secret, like masturbation. -- Stephen King
During the act of writing I have told myself something that I didn't know I knew. -- Gail Godwin
It is only through the confining act of writing that the immensity of the nonwritten becomes legible -- Italo Calvino
One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. -- E. L. Doctorow
Personally there is first: imagination; second: the act of writing - and third: the act/act of vocalizing. -- Anne Waldman
I have so little control over the act of writing that it's all I can do to remain conscious. -- David Rakoff
That thing you had to force yourself to do-the actual act of writing-turns out to be the best part. -- Anne Lamott
You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or despair ... Come to it any way but lightly. -- Stephen King
The only time I know that something is true is the moment I discover it in the act of writing. -- Jean Malaquais
Thought the mind can justify itself faster than the speed of light, it can be stopped through the act of writing. -- Byron Katie
The art and act of writing - speaking just for myself - involves getting your proverbial ass in the proverbial chair. -- Jerry Stahl
Essential acts to master for self realisation;Master the act of learning.Master the act of writing.Master the act of reading. -- Lailah Gifty Akita
The simple act of writing down a goal and making a written plan for its accomplishment moves you to the top 3 percent. -- Brian Tracy
I would say that writing, both the act of writing, and of course reading of other people's work is, for me, supreme joy. -- James Lipton
If I get ideas independently of the act of writing, they never really fit. So for me, there's no hanging out, waiting for inspiration. -- Janet Fitch
I don't care about my "impact" - I only care about the theater as an art form and criticism as an act of writing. -- Neil Patrick Harris
Be yourself and your readers will follow you anywhere. Try to commit an act of writing and they will jump overboard to get away. -- William Zinsser
I tend to delay writing by doing more research - it's really the act of writing the piece that I have the hardest time with. -- James Surowiecki
The act of writing is an act of optimism. You would not take the trouble to do it if you felt that it didn't matter. -- Edward Albee
I don't think any man writing can worry about what the act of writing costs him, even though at times he is very aware of it. -- Robert Creeley
The actual act of writing brings me such pleasure - to tell stories, to engage in cultural criticism, to reflect, to question, all of it is invigorating. -- Roxane Gay
If you're hooked on the physical act of writing, there's a good chance of your hanging in there long enough to say what you were born to say. -- Peter Meinke
Language is inexorably tied to power and understanding. And power and understanding are the roots of magic. Just the act of writing something down is a magical act. -- Patrick Rothfuss
The world doesn't fully make sense until the writer has secured his version of it on the page. And the act of writing is strangely more lifelike than life. -- Betsy Lerner
I chart a little first-list of names, rough synopsis of chapters, and so on. But one daren't overplan; so many things are generated by the sheer act of writing. -- Anthony Burgess
The act of writing is a way of tricking yourself into revealing something that you would never consciously put into the world. Sometimes I'm shocked by the deeply personal things I've put into books without realizing it. -- Chuck Palahniuk
I used to write travel essays, and I was struck by how the fact of writing about a place would change my relationship with it. I would make completely different choices, do things I wouldn't have normally, because I had to fill this narrative shape. -- Chelsea Cain
Like anything else that happens on its own, the act of writing is beyond currency. Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process. -- Stephen King
Write every day; never give up; it's supposed to be difficult; try to find some pleasure and reward in the act of writing, because you can't look for praise from editors, readers, or critics. In other words, tips that are much easier to give than to take. -- J. R. Moehringer
You can't really discover the most interesting conflicts and problems in a subject until you've tried to write about them. At that point, one discovers discontinuities in the data, perhaps, or in one's own thinking; then the act of writing forces you to work harder to resolve these contradictions. -- Anthony F. C. Wallace
Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar. -- E. B. White
To me, writing is a considered act. It's something which is a great labor of thought and consideration. -- Paul Theroux
All writing is an act of self-exploration. Even a grocery list says something about you; how much more does a novel say? -- Steven Saylor
Good acting is all in the writing. If it isn't on the page, then it really won't make any difference. You cannot act on force of personality alone. -- Larry Hagman
Now that I'm staring down the barrel of the last act of my life, I'm less excited about control and solo effort, and I resent the way the business aspects interfere with my space for creative writing. -- David Knopfler
Being a librarian certainly helped me with my writing because it made me even more of a reader, and I was always an enthusiastic reader. Writing and reading seem to me to be different aspects of a single imaginative act. -- Margaret Mahy
One of the things I had to learn as a writer was to trust the act of writing. To put myself in the position of writing to find out what I was writing. I did that with 'World's Fair,' as with all of them. The inventions of the book come as discoveries. -- E. L. Doctorow
Writing is an antisocial act. -- Martha Grimes
Writing is the act of discovery. -- Natalie Goldberg
Writing is not some quiet, closet act. -- Patti Smith
Writing fiction is fundamentally an irrational act. -- Dale Peck
I consider writing an act of good citizenship. -- Kurt Vonnegut
Writing is an act of generosity toward other people. -- Fay Weldon
I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act. -- Michael Cunningham
Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon. -- Linton Kwesi Johnson
Writing is an act of cherishing... It is an act of love. -- Julia Cameron
Ultimately, writing is about trusting your own mind. It is an act of discovery. -- Natalie Goldberg
Writing is sometimes a balancing act between keeping things easily readable and being accurate. -- Susanna Kearsley
Writing is not just the technical act of your fingers on the keyboard. Writing is living. -- Melissa Marr
Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth. -- Khaled Hosseini
For me writing is foremost a mode of thinking and when it works well, an act of discovery -- Joseph Epstein
Writing has got to be an act of discovery. Finding out things about what one is writing about. -- Edward Albee
Writing a long essay is probably the most complex constructive act that most human beings areever expected to perform. -- Carl Bereiter
If we had to say what writing is, we would have to define it essentially as an act of courage. -- Cynthia Ozick
I can act... I do a little writing as well. And I'm good at typing. I'm a creative typist, actually. -- Chris Colfer
Writing plays for me is often an act of looking at basement-level fears in terms of where they come from. -- Stephen Karam
There is an art to writing, and it is not always disclosure. The act itself can be beautiful, revelatory, and private. -- Terry Tempest Williams
What can't be said can be written. Because writing is a silent act, a labor from the head to the hand. -- Herta Muller
At school I was always trying to con my teachers into letting me act out book reports instead of writing them. -- Laura Linney
When I'm writing for rappers it's kinda like switching, "Okay, you're not PJ. Now you have to act like a rapper." -- PJ Harvey
As a total activity - I practice curating, art, architecture, writing, and publishing all together. I still act as a living creature. -- Ai Weiwei
I did some writing and bought a book, and have been working on that as a film to act and direct in. -- Dustin Hoffman
writing is a labor of love and also an act of defiance, a way to light a candle in a gale wind. -- Alice Childress
History is a succession of things that ought never to have happened, and the writing act is a kind of revenge against this. -- Breyten Breytenbach
Writing... is an act of faith: I believe it's also an act of hope, the hope that things can get better than they are. -- Margaret Atwood
The writing of a poem is, for me, in the first place, an almost total act of abandon leading to discovery leading to recognition. -- Marvin Bell
So writing became a way to get to act in things that I thought were meaningful, and hopefully write stronger roles for other women. -- Brit Marling
I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. -- William Zinsser
In my experience, cutting back is the crucial act that allows the vitality, precision and emotional heart of a piece of writing to emerge. -- Pamela Erens
Writing is the act of saying "I," of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying "listen to me, see it my way, change your mind." -- Joan Didion
Fiction writing is an act of imagination, lived experience is secondary in many ways, writing a novel really is all about inventing worlds and people. -- Ayana Mathis
Writing and directing might be a red herring, and really I'm just re-examining what it is to act, to do it well and do it properly. -- Damian Lewis
For me, writing plays is far more an act of the mind than of the emotions. It's a very different kind of impulse than fiction writing. -- Jim Grimsley
Writing fiction is an act of imagination and fantasizing, and it's not relating in prose what you've been doing for the last two or three years. -- Bret Easton Ellis
I really love writing comedy. Writing romantic comedy is even nicer because you get to write about how insane we all act when we're falling in love. -- Pearl Cleage
It's a lot easier to act when the writing is good. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to figure out 'Well, why did I say this next?' -- Anna Kendrick
My original goal was just to do stand-up but then I became interested in films - writing a film, shooting one someday, and getting to act in them. -- Demetri Martin
Tasting is an act of pleasure and writing about that pleasure is an artistic gesture, but the only true work of art, in the end, is another person's feast. -- Muriel Barbery
Reading, like writing, is a creative act. If readers only bring a narrow range of themselves to the book, then they'll only see their narrow range reflected in it. -- Ben Okri
It was an act of devotion. A little like writing or loving someone "? it doesn't always feel worthwhile, but not giving up somehow creates unexpected meaning over time. -- Miranda July

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