amandaonwriting:
Zadie Smith - On Writing
1 When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
2 When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
3 Don’t romanticise your “vocation”. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no “writer’s lifestyle”. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
4 Avoid your weaknesses. But do this without telling yourself that the things you can’t do aren’t worth doing. Don’t mask self-doubt with contempt.
5 Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.
6 Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is.
7 Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.
8 Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
9 Don’t confuse honours with achievement.
10 Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.
(via libraryland)
yeahwriters:
Prompt idea by insider-outsider:
Write a sensory scene that occurs just before someone discovers a dead body. Try to do it in less than 500 words. If that’s easy, go for under 375.
Book Hunt
So I decided to do the craziest and most exciting thing I could think of. Come Monday I’m going book hunting. I’m going to every thrift store possible and trying to find classics, poetry, and other exciting reads. However nerdy this sounds, I need to find more to read before I go insane. Sound like fun?
prettybooks:
2012 Book Challenge
It’s that time of year again! I had a lot of fun participating in the 50 Book Challenge with you guys in 2011. I personally read more than ever and I had to increase my goal to 100 books, which I surpassed. The biggest feedback I received about the challenge was that it encouraged and motivated people to read more.
The Rules:
1. Choose an amount of books that you want to read in 2012 (e.g. 25, 50, 75, 100)
2. Read, read, read!
There isn’t a rule about what type books these have to be; read anything you want. You decide what you want to include (novels, short stories, non-fiction, school books…).
To keep track of how much you’re reading, you can use the Goodreads Reading Challenge, create a list (on Tumblr, LiveJournal, LibraryThing, your computer), write book reviews, post about each book you’re reading - it’s up to you. I personally like to create a 50 Book Challenge page, which I can update easily. It may be a good idea to use the #50 book challenge tag so that others can read posts about your progress.
Although this is a quantifiable challenge, the most important thing is that you’re reading and that you’re having fun doing it :)
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
Edith Lovejoy Pierce (via libraryland)
Nightmares
falling and calling i remind myself bawling
that this decent will be spent in unprecedented fret
and soon it will end. then again with my friends
my fear takes ahold, i forget what’s been told to make this parachute unfold
a nightmare it seems so doomed it is deemed.
please, wake me from this dream.
“…if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I am free to act as desperately as I wish.”
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
“Don’t get an English degree,” He said with conviction in his voice.
“but that’s the only thing i know how to do. You’re lucky, you’re smart. You know everything there is to know about the fastest growing industry in the country. What do i know how to do? I know how to write.”
“Well… it looks like your decision has been made for you then.”
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