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Updated: Jun 28, 2021

Do you have a story inside of you? Do you feel driven to write a novel of your very own? It can be a daunting project to start and difficult to finish. However, the work is absolutely worth the outcome. Check out the inspirational quotes for writers below and get back to work feeling motivated.


Inspirational Quotes for Writers & Inspiring Quotes for Writers


Read through these 20+ inspiring quotes for writers and get motivated!


“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

Toni Morrison


“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”

Neil Gaiman


“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

― Albert Einstein


“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

Madeleine L'Engle


“We live and breathe words. .... It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them.”

Cassandra Clare


“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!”

Audrey Hepburn


“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Sylvia Plath


“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”

Saul Bellow


Inspiring Quotes for Writers


“First, think. Second, dream. Third, believe. And finally, dare.”

― Walt Disney


“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”

Aldous Huxley


“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”

Louis L'Amour


“One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”

Cassandra Clare


“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

Philip Pullman


“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

― Theodore Roosevelt


“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

Ernest Hemingway


“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

C.S. Lewis


“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

Anne Frank


“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”

William Wordsworth


“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”

Neil Gaiman


“Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.”

Philip José Farmer


“Sleep is good, he said, and books are better.”

― George R. R. Martin


I hope these quotes have left you feeling uplifted and inspired to write.



If you're looking for more inspiration...

Read 365 Awesome Story Prompts. Inside you'll find writing prompts from many genres--romance, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, historical fiction, mystery, and more. If you like space to jot ideas, check out 365 Awesome Story Prompts: Journal Edition.


You can also join my newsletter and get monthly writing inspiration, quotes, and writing prompts delivered to straight to your inbox. You'll also get to choose a free welcome gift, including 42 Awesome Story Prompts or Subscribe: Grow Your Author Newsletter from 0 to 3,000!



Updated: Jun 28, 2021

Are you in the process of editing? I'm so sorry. Just kidding. (Sort of.) For many writers, editing is both the best and the worst part of the process. We have to take a hard, critical look at our work to see if it stands up to our vision. We also have to open ourselves up to external criticism. But it's also the place where stories begin to truly shine, and that's special! Let these quotes about editing fill you with hope and inspiration to move fearlessly forward.


Quotes about Editing | Editing Quotes


Editing Quotes


First off, you're in good company. Even the world's greatest authors have struggled with writing "the perfect" first draft.


"The first draft of anything is shit."

Ernest Hemingway


"A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

Thomas Mann



Editing means cutting unnecessary words and scenes. Sometimes, even the ones you love.


"The wastebasket is a writer’s best friend."

Isaac Bashevis Singer


“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

― Stephen King


“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”

Dr. Seuss


"Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings."

― Stephen King


“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

Mark Twain


"Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees. Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove, you eliminate in order to make the work visible. Even those pages you remove somehow remain. There is a difference between a book of two hundred pages which is the result of an original eight hundred pages. The six hundred pages are there. Only you don't see them."

― Elie Wiesel



Say what you mean. Editing is a time for polishing your intention.


“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Anton Chekhov


"The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

Mark Twain



The work is worth it. This is a time when your book can go from okay to spectacular.


“A good book isn't written, it's rewritten.”

Phyllis A. Whitney


"I would write a book, or a short story, at least three times—once to understand it, the second time to improve the prose, and a third to compel it to say what it still must say. Somewhere I put it this way: first drafts are for learning what one's fiction wants him to say. Revision works with that knowledge to enlarge and enhance an idea, to reform it. Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing."

― Bernard Malamud



A word of thanks for editors.

Editing fiction is like using your fingers to untangle the hair of someone you love.

― Stephanie Roberts


When an editor works with an author, she cannot help seeing into the medicine cabinet of his soul. All the terrible emotions, the desire for vindications, the paranoia, and the projection are bottled in there, along with all the excesses of envy, desire for revenge, all the hypochondriacal responses, rituals, defenses, and the twin obsessions with sex and money. In other words, the stuff of great books.

― Betsy Lerner



I hope these quotes about editing have helped you on your path! Just remember, you've got this. 👍


“You can fix anything but a blank page.”

Nora Roberts



Looking for more writing quotes and inspiration?

Join my newsletter and get monthly writing inspiration, quotes, and writing prompts delivered to straight to your inbox. You'll also get to choose a free welcome gift, including 42 Awesome Story Prompts or Subscribe: Grow Your Author Newsletter from 0 to 3,000!

365 Awesome Story Prompts by E.V. Everest





Updated: Jun 28, 2021

Are you thinking about writing a book, or maybe you're already on your third draft? Let these quotes about writing a book fill you with inspiration. It's always affirming to know that other writers struggle with the same challenges as we do. Also, there is some great advice from famous writers to help you in your process. Happy writing!


Quotes about writing a book


Why do we write?

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”

Anais Nin


“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

Toni Morrison


“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

Madeleine L'Engle


“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

Maya Angelou


“Write what should not be forgotten.”

Isabel Allende



Sometimes, writing is hard.

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

Ernest Hemingway


"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

Thomas Mann



Advice from Famous Writers

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

Mark Twain


“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

Robert Frost


“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Anton Chekhov


“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

― Stephen King


“A good book isn't written, it's rewritten.”

Phyllis A. Whitney


“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.”

William Faulkner



Sometimes, It's Okay to Break the Rules.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Pablo Picasso



Let's Get Started!

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”

― Louis L'Amour


“You can fix anything but a blank page.”

Nora Roberts



Looking for more inspiration?

If you enjoyed these quotes about writing a book, try 365 Awesome Story Prompts! You'll find 365 creative writing prompts, setting and character inspiration lists, and tips for getting unstuck. If you prefer a print version with space to write notes and brainstorm, try 365 Awesome Story Prompts: Journal Edition.


Join my newsletter and get monthly writing inspiration, quotes, and writing prompts delivered to straight to your inbox. You'll also get to choose a free welcome gift, including 42 Awesome Story Prompts or Subscribe: Grow Your Author Newsletter from 0 to 3,000!

365 Awesome Story Prompts by E.V. Everest





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