Jesmyn Ward Quotes

I would say, number one, don't worry about getting published. Just write. Number two, just write. Three is make sure you read.

In Sydney, I gave what was billed as a masterclass to bright students of writing at the University of Sydney. But the term 'masterclass' was possibly over-egging the pudding. All I could do was pass on some lessons from my own life, and the most obvious is that if you want to be a writer, you must first have been a reader.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember, and reading even before that. My mom still has stories that I wrote when I was in kindergarten. I was a reader and a re-reader. That's the main reason I became a writer.

I had novels to write, so I wrote them.

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

I'm clearly not a writer, but I'm always a fan of them.

For any writers at all, read everything you can and then put your butt in the chair and write. That's all there is to it.

I don't actually have a one wellspring of inspiration. Though I'm most often inspired while reading - both fiction and nonfiction.

Reading is probably what leads most writers to writing.

I tell people you should write what you love to read because that's where your passion is.

If you want to be a writer, just write. There's no magic to it.

I know that to write you have to have stories you want to tell. You have to keep your mind alive, and you have to work hard.

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.

I never know how to give advice to a writer because there's so much you could say, and it's hard to translate your own experience. But of course, I always try. The main thing that I usually end up saying is to read a lot. To read a great deal and to learn from that.

I'm a writer and this is what I love to do.

I don't call myself a writer.

I'm always writing. A friend of mine once said, 'You avoid re-writing by writing.' Which is kind of a good point, because re-writing seems to be mostly about craft, and writing is just, like, getting out your passion on a piece of paper.

Ever since I was twelve, I dreamed of being an author. I just never had the fortitude to see any of my stories through to completion. I would start a book, get a few chapters in, and grow bored or get distracted by something else.

I'm definitely a writer. I don't even know how to freestyle.

Writers are nerds.

I write because I like to make things and the only things I am good at making things with are words.

The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write.

Read a lot. Write a lot. Have fun.

I am a writer because writing is the thing I do best.

I have met so many people who say they've got a book in them, but they've never written a word. To be a writer - this may seem trite, I realize - you have to actually write.