Ariel Gore Quotes

Sinclair Lewis was asked one time to give a talk to class of students about writing. When he got there he asked the class, Do you people want to be writers?and they all said yes. Then Lewis said, Why the hell aren't you at home writing?

I've lost track of the number of people who want to be writers but never actually write anything. Talking about writing, dreaming about writing, can be very fun, but it won't get a book written. You've got to write.

Write your goddamned book now. The world awaits.

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.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

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

I used to think that: whenever I heard that someone had taken 10 years to write a novel, I'd think it must be a big, serious book. Now I think, 'No - it took you one year to write, and nine years to sit around eating Kit Kats.'

Shut up and write. Don't talk about writing, just physically do it.

You know what I did after I wrote my first novel? I shut up and wrote twenty-three more.

I get a lot of letters from people. They say "I want to be a writer. What should I do?" I tell them to stop writing to me and to get on with it.

When you get an idea, go and write. Don't waste it in conversation.

In 1957, I decided: write or perish.

Sometimes I write less than I'd like but do research. Other times, editor's notes or a copy-edited manuscript or page proofs for a forthcoming novel mean that I need to put my attentions elsewhere for a day or two, but I always come back to writing.

Everybody writes a book too many.

A writer who isn't writing is asking for trouble.

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

I had novels to write, so I wrote them.

All I know is that I have way more stuff that I want to write about than I possibly have time to.

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

If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write.

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.

The secret to being a writer is that you have to write. It's not enough to think about writing or to study literature or plan a future life as an author. You really have to lock yourself away, alone, and get to work.

I think I'm less disciplined than a lot of other people, I'm afraid, but on the other hand, I've written a lot of books.

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

In the end, you have to just sit down, shut up, and write.