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What 5 Famous Authors Tell Us About Writing
By Pamela Jane
We love turning to celebrated writers for wisdom on love and life: How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton, A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter, by William Deresiewicz, and My Life in Middlemarch, by Rebecca Mead. But what can famous writers tell us about writing? Below are tips from from five of my favorites:
1. Isak Dinesen: Don’t wait for the ideal frame of mind
“When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time … without faith and without hope…suddenly the work will find itself” — Isak Dinesen.
When I searched online for the above quote, I found that “without faith and without hope” had been deleted, as though these words detracted from Dinesen’s advice. Yet, “without faith and without hope” are what make the statement so heartening. We can get ourselves frustrated and stressed out trying to achieve an optimistic frame of mind. But you can begin regardless of the weather. A sunny attitude will follow.
2. Jacqueline Woodson: Take your time
Woodson, whose novel, Brown Girl Dreaming, won the Newbery Medal in 2015, has stated that reading slowly and savoring the richness and nuance…
