There's No Right Way to Write.
Whenever I'm stuck on an idea (or lack thereof) in a story, I tend to turn to quotes from other writers about writing, and why they write. Shoutout to Google. I usually type in: "author writing inspiration," "writing inspiration," or I get very specific and type in: "(specific author) quotes on writing."
I always knew that being a writer is hard work... writer's block is a real thing. But, the one fact that I think trumps all, is that I love to write. I think that being given the chance to tell someone's story - whether it be real life or your own fictional character - is such a cool task and honor.
For those of you fighting writer's block this very moment, I thought that I would provide some words of wisdom that have inspired me and given me hope to keep writing:
“The desire to write grows with writing.”
“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”
“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.”
“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”
“The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.”
And my personal favorite:
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”
I'd like to end this with my own sage advice: create something.
No matter the extent of your knowledge about proper grammar or the correct format of writing a book/poem/short story - whatever you have to write will connect with at least one other person in this world. What you have to say and what you have to write matters to someone. Even if it's just yourself.
Reagan Fleming