Josiah Gilbert Holland Quotes

If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines, music, you automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry spell in my life, mainly because I feed myself well, to the point of bursting. I wake early and hear my morning voices leaping around in my head like jumping beans. I get out of bed to trap them before they escape.

You either have an imaginative mind or you don't. All of my writing is God-given. I don't write my stories - they write themselves.

The key to being a wonderful writer is not to write. You just get out of the way. Leave room for God to walk in the room. And when I write something that I know is right, I get on my knees and say 'thank you.'

The writer has two kinds of faith: actual writing and sitting openly. Have faith in your personal effort or sweat. And faith in God, or whatever you want to call it. Then the voices will come. Faith is the big deal.

When I write, I put one foot in front of the other. It's an act of faith. I just follow my heart.

I thought a book on miracles might be a great idea, but just because it's a great idea doesn't mean I'm supposed to do it. But my editor persisted, and eventually I thought, 'He's right. I should write this book.'

After writing all day I go for a walk and see a piece of architecture i want to photograph and i have to take a picture and later a poem comes in my mind.

I doubt I would have written a line ... unless some minor tragedy had sort of twisted my mind out of the normal rut.

In the same way, I write some of my more difficult pieces when I'm at very happy stages in my life.

There are days when the result is so bad that no fewer than five revisions are required. In contrast, when I'm greatly inspired, only four revisions are needed.

Whether you are inspired or not, the only way to unlock your creativity, is to start writing.

I begin with writing the first sentence—and trusting to Almighty God for the second.

I have never felt like I was creating anything. For me, writing is like walking through a desert and all at once, poking up through the hardpan, I see the top of a chimney. I know there's a house under there, and I'm pretty sure that I can dig it up if I want. That's how I feel. It's like the stories are already there. What they pay me for is the leap of faith that says: 'If I sit down and do this, everything will come out okay.'

Inspiration does not always precede the act of writing; it often follows it.

Being in the mood to write, like being in the mood to make love, is a luxury that isn't necessary in a long-term relationship. Just as the first caress can lead to a change of heart, the first sentence, however tentative and awkward, can lead to a desire to go just a little further.

The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working.

To be a Jew is an act of the strenuous mind as it stands before the fakeries and lying seductions of the world, saying no and no again as they parade by in all their allure. And to be a writer is to plunge into the parade and become one of the delirious marchers.

I'm a bit of a night owl because that's when I feel the most creative and alive.

I think I would have written more books if I'd had fewer kids or had them earlier, but I think the books in general would have had a little less spark to them.

I write in my study, where I also have my prayer altar. I believe that keeps me focused and gives me positive energy and reminds me that I'm merely the instrument of greater creative forces.

I haven't stopped writing which is good. I'm scared to stop completely otherwise it might lead to stagnancy.

I suppose all writers worry about the well running dry.

I've never had writer's block.

I feel more influenced in my own work by dreams than I do by other writers' works in a way. Or by popular culture, movies - what else is there to write about than love and loss?

There's no such thing as writer's block. I'm brilliant all the time every day. It never stops.