Day 29: Keep Writing

I am both too young and too old to be very wise and I am struggling through these last days of NaNoWriMo just as you are; what can I say? What can I do to help you get through this? Not much, but maybe these writers can:

"You say grace before meals. I say grace before I dip the pen in the ink."
— G.K. Chesterton"

"There was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you're writing, and aren't writing particularly well"
— Agatha Christie

"I never exactly made a book. It's rather like taking dictation. I was given things to say. "
— C.S. Lewis

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

“You may tire of reality but you never tire of dreams.”
― L.M. Montgomery, The Road to Yesterday

"Write me of hope and love, and hearts that endured." — Emily Dickinson

"I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles."
— Shannon Hale

“Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex, as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Aha! Today I shall become an author! And I will auth and auth and auth and make a squillion dollars, whoopee!"
— Brian Jacques

"Have you thought of an ending?"
"Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant."
"Oh, that won't do! Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?"
"It will do well, if it ever came to that."
"Ah! And where will they live? That's what I often wonder."
— J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)


Keep writing. Keep telling your story. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.
~Rita

Day 27: Borrowed Encouragement

Okay, I confess, I didn’t have much done for today’s post so I may have…borrowed some wise words. Really, I don’t mean any harm…I guess I didn’t really ask if I could but, well, I think we kinda need them, so yeah I took them. I mean these are the final days, I needed some help.

So anyway, have fun:

“These are the words you are looking for.” (Jedi mind tricks work every time.)

“Writing isn’t a strict progression of thoughts to words; it’s more a big ball of wibbly, wobbly, writerly… stuff.” (The Doctor said this, well sort of)

“One does not simply stop writing on the 27th of November” (thank you Boromir, that’s exactly what I was looking for)

one does not simply stop writing

“Okay, I can write this! I am, after all, a superhero!” (Larry Boy knows what he’s talking about, well most of the time.)

“Second word of the night and strait on till morning!” (I think Peter Pan said this, he always was clever)

“Weavers of Stories! Of Novels! My kindred! I know in your eyes must be the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come when words run dry, when we forsake our characters and leave their stories untold. But it is not this day. An hour of dry pens and broken keyboards when the age of Novelists comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we write! By all that you hold dear in good tales, I bid you stand! Writers of November!” (Paraphrased version of Aragorn’s speech at the black gates)


Good luck,
~Rita

Louis L'Amour Author Highlight

About Louis L’Amour (1908-1988)

Louis L'Amour at the typwriter

I grew up around Louis L’Amour books. We have a number of book shelves in our house and I’ll bet you’d find a Louis L’Amour book on every one of them, I’ll also bet you that we have at least one copy of every one of his books. (Or at least if we’ve missed any I don’t know about it.)

The first one  I read was “Down the Long Hills” the story of a seven year old boy and a three year old girl who, together with a big red horse, are the only survivors of an Indian attack. I love going back to re-follow their journey through the wilderness pursued by Indians and horse thieves.  Soon after that I started in on his Sackett series and the rest of his hundred or so books followed those.