QUOTES

I love quotes, so I have gathered a few inspiring quotes about writing and life. Enjoy!

WRITING

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good.
- William Faulkner

It's none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
- Ernest Hemingway

Really, in the end, the only thing that can make you a writer is the person that you are, the intensity of your feeling, the honesty of your vision, the unsentimental acknowledgment of the endless interest of the life around and within you. Virtually nobody can help you deliberately -- many people will help you unintentionally.
- Santha Rama Rau

Words are a lens to focus one's mind.
- Ayn Rand

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.
- Ray Bradbury

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

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamouring to become visible.
- Vladimir Nabakov

To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make.
- Truman Capote

LIFE

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
William Wallace

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.
Cary Grant

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
Marcus Aurelius

Your life is what your thoughts make it.
Marcus Aurelius

PUNCTUATION PROBLEMS

Do not worry, I will not be giving any grammar lessons, but what I will do is tell you of a few punctuation mistakes I have been making just in case there is someone out there doing the same thing.

I have had my novel edited by someone who is very technical about grammar and well, I made a few very stupid mistakes and I am sort of ashamed to share them, but here goes.

I now know that I should open Dialogue with “(66) and close dialogue with” (99). I Thought any quotation marks would do, which is not true.

I have also been putting a normal hyphen at the end of an interrupted sentence, which is also not correct. The proper symbol is achieved my pressing Alt 0151 (—). “What do you mean—”

Another thing that I am guilty of is putting my full stops and comas outside the quotation marks such as this “I am so hungry”. Instead of writing it like this “I am so hungry.” To me it was so insignificant but I suppose to the trained eye of a literary agent or editors it just screams amateur.

It might all be little things but in the end it creates the wrong impression and I am now working hard to fix it.

OBSESSION

I have never watched Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, but I had wished to watch it ever since it came out. So, 2 nights ago it was on the movie channel and I finally got the chance to watch it.

Basically it is about this guy who is obsessed with capturing the scent of beautiful women, because he wants to embody the smell of love. He goes on an absolute murderous rampage all so that he could accomplish his goal. Well in the end I was horrified by the movie, so much so that I rather wished I hadn’t watched it at all. Can anyone say freaky ass movie?

So I started wondering about us humans and obsession. It is everywhere we look and it is emphasized in our daily lives. Everyone has an obsession with something. Whether it is the search for true love, perfect health, perfect weight or whether it is being a successfully published author.

There is always something to worry about or strive for. Obsession can be dangerous but it can also be a kind of driving mechanism I guess. As long as we are not hurting ourselves or anybody else and obsessing for the right reasons I suppose it is safe. I should be the last one to talk. I am obsessed with writing and achieving success in everything I attempt.

So please everyone, don’t turn out to be the next Jean-Baptiste Grenouille from Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Be safe, take care of yourself and don’t try and kill anyone. See, no more watching hyped up movies either. I just know how to pick them.

NYMPHS

Nymphs, at times thought of as nothing more than promiscuous females, originates from Greek mythology. Though, I don’t get to read a lot about nymph fiction characters. I would love to read more about some form of nymph character who isn’t supposed to be so beautiful that she is nothing but a seductress.

Come on people. Where are the bad ass nymph characters that, sure they are beautiful, but would kick your ass if you just looked at them wrong? After all, according to Greek mythology, some of them hung out with Artemis, who of course you know was a real bad ass.

According to me nymphs are very underrated and unfairly cheapened. I think I have to write my own version of a nymph story.

First gnomes and now nymphs. I am getting more ideas for stories day by day.

MUSIC

I absolutely love music. It can inspire me to write some great scenes, whether it be a love scene or a fighting scene.

My music taste is also very diverse. I can listen to classical music the one moment and listen to Metallica the next. My mood determines what I listen to. It also determines which scene I will be writing that day or the next. It is also great if I want to prepare myself to write a particular scene. For example, if my characters are in a club, I put on some dance music, turn it up really loud and just write how it affects me. So music has a much greater impact on my writing than I first realized. But I am thankful for it. I guess music is my muse.

So what is your opinion about music and writing? Do you like listening to music when you write or not?

LOVE OR LUST

I thought this up while trying to figure out my next novels storyline. Ok, so you have your leading lady and she has to choose between two possible love interests. But…one is true love and the other is simple lust. How is she to know which is which? Make the wrong choice and you could lose the love of your life forever.

Now I am thinking if I was her…how I would know the difference? How would I know that I am just lusting after a guy’s body and not him in general? I honestly don’t know. I suppose the one that loves you would care more about you while the one lusting after you would care for a more physical relationship. Regardless, such a choice or circumstance would be quite a dilemma. Let’s just hope I never get saddled with that choice. Dumping one guy and finding out months later that the one you chose dumped you for someone prettier…

I read the back covers of a few romance novels, who shall remain nameless, and it said something like “Will he be able to fight off his lust for her body or will she give into her love for him”. That theme came across a lot and that just confuses me even more. She loves him but he only lusts after her and they are supposed to live happily ever after? Come on! Why can’t he love her too?

Ok, I am driving myself crazy. But honestly, would you be able to tell the difference? Is there a safe choice?

Personally I would want the love…if I can spot the difference, but that’s just me.

KARMA

I am a believer in Karma. I believe that if you do bad things to others, bad things will happen to you. That’s why I am a firm believer in do unto others as you would have done unto you.

I always try to be polite and courteous towards a fellow human being, but let’s face it. Sometimes there are people out there that I just cannot be nice to and then Karma comes back and kicks me in the backside.

I just hope that Karma works for aspiring writers as well. If you work hard, your hard work will be rewarded…or something like that. That kind of assurance would be great right?