The hard part of writing isn’t the writing; it’s the thinking. You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: What does the reader need to know next?
– William Zinsser
Tag: thinking
Quotable 455
Novels begin not on the page, but in meditation and day-dreaming, in thinking not writing.
– Joyce Carol Oates
Quotable 378
Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.
– David McCullough
Quotable 272
Start writing by thinking, not wrestling with words.
– Jonathan Price
Quotable 203
No thinking – that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is to write, not to think!
– Mike Rich
Quotable 105
The only good writing is intuitive writing. It would be a big bore if you knew where it was going. It has to be exciting, instantaneous and it has to be a surprise. Then it all comes blurting out and it’s beautiful. I’ve had a sign by my typewriter for 25 years now which reads, “DON’T THINK!”
– Ray Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012)
Quotable 92
The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.
– Edwin Schlossberg
Pen to Paper: ‘This is Water’
The text for today’s lesson is a commencement address David Foster Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005. Despite having skipped both of my college graduation ceremonies, I have a fondness for reading good commencement speeches. Read Wallace’s now, and then come back for my take on what it means for writers.