Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"Here I was into astronomy, and here into anthropology, and there I go into geology. It was much more fun to be able to research and write about whatever I wanted to." —Octavia  Butler

As both a reader and a writer the world is there for the taking... and the making.

It's all better with friends.

Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"On the other hand, I was very much interested in the way people behaved, the human dance, how they seemed to move around each other. I wanted to play around with that."
—Octavia Butler



Good stories become great stories when people you care about are involved. For me, it's more about the characters than the plot (which, btw, better stand up).



It's all better with friends.

Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence." —Octavia E. Butler



I'd been writing about three months and was convinced I was going to be the newest literary discovery. That old cliché? Ignorance is bliss? It's a cliché for a reason.



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Wednesday Wisdom for Writer and Those Who Love Them

I recently finished reading KINDRED by Octavia E. Butler. Although my list of her quotes doesn't tie this one to KINDRED, I have to think it was.


"I wasn't trying to work out my own ancestry. I was trying to get people to feel slavery. I was trying to get across the kind of emotional and psychological stones that slavery threw at people."

She was an amazing author, and KINDRED was an amazing book.




It's all better with friends.

Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

I'm reading KINDRED by Octavia E. Butler right now and am enthralled. You'll likely read a few quotes from Ms. Butler in the near future.

"You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence." —Octavia E. Butler


My plan for the week is to back up and get a running start on the manuscript I'm currently writing. I'm hoping to find something fresh and exciting. In other words, I'm counting on persistence paying off in a measurable way.

Keeping the faith is part of the process, right?

(A free copy of THE SACRIFICE to the first commenter who gets the significance of the photo.)



It's all better with friends.

Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"Writing is one of the few professions in which you can psychoanalyse yourself, get rid of hostilities and frustrations in public, and get paid for it." —Octavia Butler


Cool, huh?



It's all better with friends.