Jack London Quotes

Writing requires the concentration of the writer, demands that nothing else be done except that.

Persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much, if they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.

When things aren't working out, we have a tendency to say, 'Go do other things,' but you shouldn't do other things. You need to stay at your desk and continue to try to write. You need to insist on it.

The lesson I learned is that sometimes the task you have at hand needs all of your concentration and focus.

If you really want to write, then shut yourself in a room, close the door, and WRITE. If you don't want to write, do something else. It's as simple as that.

The F-word here is focus.

You need to have laser focus on doing your job.

Writing day and night for months… that’s hard.

Writing is hard work, and fun, and requires you to keep your backside in a chair when you would sometimes like to put it elsewhere. So the only wisdom is the advice to keep at it, I guess.

Channel your energy. Focus.

I always write a story in one sitting.

Write as well as you can and finish what you start.

I suppose the more you have to do, the more you learn to organize and concentrate-or else get fragmented into bits. I have learned to use my 'ten minutes'. I once thought it was not worth sitting down for a time as short as that; now I know differently and, if I have ten minutes, I use them, even if they bring only two lines, and it keeps the book alive.

The main thing about writing is... writing. Sitting your butt down in the chair and doing the work.

When you're writing fiction or poetry... it really comes down to this: indifference to everything except what you're doing... A young writer could do worse than follow the advice given in those lines.

I'm a writer, not a professional runner. It's fun and it helps me write. I need powerful concentration.

When you're too relaxed it's not good to create.

I like the busy-ness of office life. What I discovered, to my surprise, is that I love the solitary nature of writing. What happens is that you write when you're ready.

To do two things at once is to do neither.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

But the ultimate lesson is just sit down and write. That's all.

As a young boy, I read 'Cheaper by the Dozen' and immediately became neurotic about my use of time. It taxed me severely, but only for the next 50 years. But I think it also allowed me to discipline myself to sit in the chair and be a writer, where one of the most needed qualities is patience.

I'm very big on focus.

It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice.

A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.