Writing: 20 Quotes That Will Inspire You to Write More

Need a burst of motivation? We could all use it from time to time, especially with all the stress life throws our way. Below are twenty quotes that I think will help the writer inside you feel more inspired.

Bookmark this page so you can come back when you need that extra push.

"Pen and Paper" by Dinuraj K is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

- Mark Twain

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

- Confucius

If you can dream it, you can do it.

- Walt Disney

You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.

- Rabindranath Tagore

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

- John F. Kennedy

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

- William Butler Yeats

Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

- Julie Andrews

Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.

- Gordon B. Hinckley

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

- Benjamin Franklin

You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't put a few nickels in the machine.

- Flip Wilson

Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.

- W. Clement Stone

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

- John Wooden

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.

- Edwin Land

Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.

- Napoleon Hill

Action is the foundational key to all success.

- Pablo Picasso

Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.

- Ray Bradbury

If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.

- David Viscott

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

- Walt Disney

Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.

- Stephen King

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Now get out there and kick some writing ass!

Writing: How I Handle Writer's Block

"Road Closed" by ricky montalvo is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Writer’s block happens when you least expect it. It can be most troublesome, and can really throw a monkey wrench into your progress.

Here are three techniques I use to handle writer’s block.

Make an outline.

When I first started writing, I never really made outlines. I had many ideas; they were all in my head, so I just started writing. This might work for some people, but not for everyone. What I found out fast was that eventually I would find myself stuck somewhere with no clear direction on where to go next. My project would stall.

Then I started making outlines.

Ever since I started making outlines, I barely ever found myself stuck anymore. In these detailed outlines, I will map out every scene of the story. Therefore, I always have the outline to look at for reference to keep me moving along. I might find myself stuck on how to word something, but I hardly find myself stuck on what to write next.

Write out of order.

You are in the middle of writing and you find yourself stuck. You are at a loss for what to write. However, you have tons of ideas brewing in your mind for a later part in your story. The solution is simple, skip the part you are on, jumping ahead to the part you have ideas for, and writing there instead.

This has worked for me many times. Here are two main reasons I recommend this…

One, if you jump ahead and write the ideas you have in your mind right now, you will not forget them. If you wait, some of the ideas you have could be hard to remember and could get lost forever.

Two, although it might be out of order, at least you are writing. You are still moving along on your story regardless of where you are.

Take time away.

The last way I handle writer’s block is taking time away from my writing. Do something else to clear your mind of everything. Watch a movie, catch up on a television show, play some video games, read a book, anything that will get you away for however long you need to relax and clear your head.

When I return to my writing, I am much more refreshed and less stressed about being stuck. This creates a perfect recipe to get the creative juices flowing again.

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In conclusion, I wish you luck with whatever it is you are writing. I am not an expert, just a guy with a passion for writing, but hopefully some of the things I stated here can help you get past that pesky writer’s block.

More of My Writing Advice

Have any other ways to handle writer's block? Tell me in the comments below.

Writing: Distractions During Writing - Part 1: The Internet

When thinking about what could possibly be a distraction when writing, many things came to mind. So much so that trying to fit them all into one blog post would have been a nightmare. Therefore, this will be a multi-part series focusing on distractions. Who knows how long it will actually go for? As long as there are distractions, I will keep posting them.

That said; let us get into the first distraction that can halt the writing process.

The Internet.

"No Internet" by Marcelo Graciolli is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I think we all have done it from time to time. You sit down at your computer, trying to get yourself into gear to write. You open up your word processor of choice, but then open up your internet browser and start going to your favorite websites. Before you know it an hour has passed, and you still have not started your writing.

Maybe you have started your writing, but jumped online "real quick" to check something out. Then got side tracked, and never really got back to your writing. Either way, the internet can wait. It will still be there when you are finished.

Here are three ways to distance yourself from the internet in order to focus on your writing.

1. If possible, dedicate a computer or laptop to your writing, one that does not have any internet access whatsoever. That way even if you are tempted to hop on the internet, you will not be able to.

2. Write by hand in a notebook or on a legal note pad, far away from a computer. The downside to this option is that you will eventually have to go back to your computer to type the things you wrote. The upside however, at least the writing aspect is complete. In addition, you will be able to edit some of your writing as you go through and type it up.

3. If the other two options just do not work for you then the last step to rid yourself of the internet is simply shutting off your internet modem or home wifi connection. With this option, you will not have access to the internet throughout your home, until you turn it back on. It may sound drastic, but if it allows you to get some writing finished, then so be it.

Click here for more posts that will help you with your writing.

Writing: Finish What You Started – Setting Yourself Up for Success

There is nothing more discouraging than being passionate about writing, yet never able to truly finish anything; having it always lurking in the back of your head as just another unfinished project. I will get to it eventually, or one day I will work on it, you say to yourself.

Here are some of my tips to help set you up for writing success.

Set a deadline for yourself and strive to reach it.

It was not until I entered a contest that I found what a beauty a deadline could be. Yeah, deadlines can stink, but if you are writing for yourself, deadlines can be a blessing. The contest deadline kicked me into gear to write every day in order to complete it in a timely fashion.

Now when I write, I give myself a deadline. A realistic due date that works for me. This lingering date ultimately motivates me to write more often in order to meet that deadline.

You know your schedule; you know what you are writing, look at a calendar and decide for yourself how long you think it will take to write it. If you are writing a novel, maybe break it down by chapters, having a deadline for each one. Small steps are better than no steps.

Create an outline.

Some people write without outlines, and that is fine, but for others, like me, they can help you stay on the right track. I never use to create outlines, but I also never finished anything I wrote either. Now I create a bullet style outline of every scene before I even get into the writing.

When I begin the writing process, I will keep it close by, crossing off the bullets as I go. Not only does this keep me on track, but following the outline clears my mind of thinking about what is next in the story. This lets me think solely on the scene I am currently writing, helping me put as much detail into it as possible.

Find time to write every day.

I wrote a couple of months back on How to Write on a Daily Schedule. In there I talked about how you can get yourself into the habit of writing every day.

Even if it is just for an hour a day, every little bit of writing will help you reach your deadline goal.

Do not edit as you write – just write.

One of the big mistakes I made early on was trying to edit my work as I moved along. I constantly went back to parts I had written and tweaked them repeatedly. Not only did I try to make the writing flawless, but I also kept trying to add things in to make it better.
 
Long story short, the re-writing did not move me forward, which never allowed me to finish what I was trying to write. All I ended up with was a pile of random pages and an unfinished story.

Save all the edits for when you are finished with a rough draft. That is why they call a rough draft, because it is not complete yet. Getting the whole story down is the first major step. Afterwards, you can go back and sweeten things up. If you think of something new to add, jot it down on a piece of paper and add it in after you have your rough draft completed.

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In conclusion, I wish you luck with whatever it is you are writing. There is nothing more frustrating than having something you started writing months, sometimes even years ago, but have never been able to finish. I am not an expert, just a guy with a passion for writing, but I hope that some of the things I shared here can help you finally start finishing rather than just beginning.

I will leave you with this quote...

“If you really want to do something, you'll find a way.

If you don't, you'll find an excuse.”

– Jim Rohn

- Matt

Writing: How to Write on A Daily Schedule

Whether you are writing a novel, a short story, or even a screenplay, finding time in your daily schedule to do so can be stressful. Writing consistently on a daily schedule can be even harder.

Trust me, I know.

I have gone days, weeks, sometimes even months between writing sessions. However, I recently figured out how to get myself writing on a daily schedule. Helping me finish two short stories and a screenplay over the past year. In this guide, I will give you advice on how I learned to write on that daily schedule.

Find the time of day that works for you.

The first thing you need to do is find yourself the right time of day. The best time that you will be able to sit down, away from all the distractions of life, and focus on your writing. I would recommend a time frame anywhere between 1 to 3 hours. Mornings, afternoons, even if it is midnight, find your time and lock it down.

Set small reachable daily goals.

Setting small reachable daily goals will not only inform you of how much you accomplished that day, but will also help motivate you. Completing these goals can help build inspiration inside yourself, driving you to complete more each day.

I tend to go by word count or page count, depending on what I am writing. When I write fiction, I aim for a 300 to 500 word count goal in one writing session. When writing a screenplay, I aim for a goal of 2 to 4 pages per day.

The amount of words or pages you set for yourself to reach each day is up to you, but making them reasonable is the key part. Starting yourself off with an unrealistic daily goal will not only set you up for failure, but not attaining that goal will drown your motivation from those failures. Set your goal low, and aim to hit that goal each day. You can always up the goal as you start new projects and are more accustomed to writing every day.

Write.

Write. Write. Write. Stick with it and I promise you will become accustomed to it. The more you get use to writing daily, the more you will feel odd when you skip a day. You might feel like your writing is moving along slowly, but the key to it all is that it is consistent. You will be able to finish things a lot faster than writing whenever you feel like it. In the end, you will accomplish more, and the more you accomplish, the more you will look forward to doing it.

Try not to skip a day unless you truly have to.

There will come days where you might not be in the writing mood. You might want to just skip a day, which is fine, but whenever I skip a day of writing I feel like nothing was accomplished. On those days, use some of the things you love doing to help motivate you to get just a little writing finished. For me, I use video games and television as a motivator. I force myself to get at least one hour of writing complete before jumping into a video game, catching up with a television show, or watching a movie. I might not always feel it going in, but once I am done with my hour writing session, I am happy that I actually did.

If you do skip a writing day here or there, that is fine. I mean, sometimes life happens. If you can, make it more like a reward to yourself than anything. For example, if you greatly exceed one of your daily word or page count goals, then taking a day off would be a nice reward.

Things to consider.

The suggestions I have given you here all stem from the fact that you have outlined everything that you are going to write. If you have everything mapped out, then getting yourself into a daily writing schedule will go fast and smoothly. If not, you can also use this same process for creating an outline, working on it a little each day before diving into the writing portion, never skipping a beat and never loosing that daily writing habit.

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In conclusion, I wish you luck with whatever it is you are writing. I am not an expert, just a guy with a passion for writing, but hopefully some of the things I stated here can help you to write on a daily schedule.