Gretchen Rubin Quotes

The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration.

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

Don't fall into the trap of having to have everything perfect to write or wait until the mood strikes you. If you want it as a job, treat it like a job, and just as you don't go to work only when you feel like it, you have to condition yourself to sit and write even when the ideas don't flow.

I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working.

I do not believe in inspiration, but I must have a title in order to work, otherwise I am lost.

Amateurs wait for inspiration. The real pros get up and go to work.

I go into my workroom seven mornings a week. There will only be one or two mornings a week where it seems to be going well, but to earn those days you have to go through slow, slodgy days where your mind feels like porridge.

I used to write when I was in the mood or felt inspired. Anymore, I write whether I feel inspired or not. It's a discipline. So that's definitely different. It's part of maturing as a person and as a professional.

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

I have no writing habit. I work when I feel like it, and I work when I have to - mostly the latter.

For me, songwriting is something I have to do ritually. I don't just wait for inspiration; I try to write a little bit every day.

Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration.

I write all the time, whether I feel like it or not. I never get inspired unless I'm already writing.

I don't paint every day. I'm not that motivated. I don't do anything the same every day.

If I waited to be inspired to go to the gym, I'd never get there. I schedule my exercise time; I schedule my work time. This is especially important if you have a day job as I did while writing my first seven novels.

I just write when the bell rings. I don't have time to wait for inspiration.

You don't get into the mood to create – it's discipline.

Nulla dies sine linea - Not a day without a line.

If I spend 100 days in a row making music there’s a chance nothing will come of it. But if I spend 100 days not making music it’s guaranteed that nothing will come of it. So keep working.

Someone once asked me... whether I waited for inspiration. My answer was: "Every day!"

The routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lightening bold of inspiration, maybe more. And this routine is available to everyone.

Those who are waiting for an epiphany to strike may wait forever. The artist simply goes to work, making art, both good and not so good.

Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.

Writing doesn't require drive. It's like saying a chicken has to have drive to lay an egg.