The difference between a writer who toughs it out and one who doesn't is that you push through the parts where you… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“There’s no point in writing hopeless novels. We all know we’re going to die; what’s important is the kind of men and… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
There are moments when I am writing when I think that if other people knew how I felt right now, they’d burn… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
There are a lot of us, some published, some not, who think the literary life is the loveliest one possible, this life… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I used to tell my writing students that they must write the books they wished they could come upon - because then… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“In general…there’s no point in writing hopeless novels. We all know we’re going to die; what’s important is the kind of men… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid.… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I went to Goucher College in Maryland for the best possible reasons - to learn - but then I dropped out at… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
You are going to have to give and give and give, or there's no reason for you to be writing. You have… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“You get your confidence and intuition back by trusting yourself, by being militantly on your own side. You need to trust yourself,… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Don’t underestimate this gift of finding a place in the writing world: if you really work at describing creatively on paper the… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
They believe that if they do get published, a wonderful new life is in store. It will turn out that deep down… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“Writers show us the glades we'd missed, the trickling voices of streams, the eyes of a barn owl watching us. A writer… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
The worst time in any writer's life is the two months before publication. ALL writers become mental and pathetic, even those of… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
If you always dreamed of writing a novel or a memoir, and you used to love to write, and were pretty good… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
You simply keep putting down one damn word after the other, as you hear them, as they come to you. You can… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
The writer is a person who is standing apart, like the cheese in 'The Farmer in the Dell' standing there alone but… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you're conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something-anything-down on paper. A friend… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“Throughout my childhood I believed that what I thought about was different from what other kids thought about. It was not necessarily… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I don't know where to start," one [writing student] will wail. Start with your childhood, I tell them. Plug your nose and… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I am not writing to try and convert people to fundamental Christianity. I am just trying to share my experience, strength and… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don’t worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Dialogue that is written in dialect is very tiring to read. If you can do it brilliantly, fine. If other writers read… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
You keep working on your piece over and over, trying to get the sections and paragraphs and sentences and the whole just… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Shirley Jackson said that a confused reader is an antagonistic reader, and I live by that. It's okay to start anywhere, and… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“But it is fantasy to think that successful writers do not have these bored, defeated hours, these hours of deep insecurity when… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
It's funny where we look for salvation, and where we actually find it. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
And yet, I do believe there is ultimately meaning in the chaos, and also in the doldrums. What I resist is not the truth… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Raising a child, whether or not it is yours, is like Nautilus of the heart and soul. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
We are going to die, as is everyone we adore - I hate this! But the question is, how do we live as women… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
![“I don't know where to start," one [writing student] will wail. Start with your childhood, I tell them. Plug your nose and jump in, and write down all your memories as truthfully as you can. Flannery O' Connor said that anyone who has survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of…” quote by Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/22e/anne-lamott-188_childhood_i-don-t-know-where-to-start-one-writing_3064070.jpg)
