Writers always seem to come up with brilliant quotes about writing, and why shouldn’t they? Douglas Adams has noted, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” And Gloria Steinem once quipped: “I do not like to write. I like to have written.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Writers’ Quotes About Writing”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
As writers, we look for inspiration wherever we can find it.
And that’s why, from time to time, I go looking for great quotations from other writers.
They always give me a lift, especially the funny ones.
Here’s one I wanted to share. This one’s from the writer Douglas Adams about deadlines.
Oh, yes.
He says, you know this one, right?
Yes.
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Boy, can I relate to that.
I need that as a tattoo.
And a lot of quotations about writing have to do with the painful process that is writing.
You know, there’s that one about, oh, it’s no problem.
You just sit down at your desk and open a vein or whatever it is.
But I like Gloria Steinem’s quote about writing.
I do not like to write.
I like to have written.
I can so relate to that.
I have a couple of quotes.
They’re not particularly funny, but they address the issue of what the role of proper grammar is in writing.
They both address the point that sometimes we make too much of that at the wrong time in the writing process, right?
You pay attention to the grammar kind of in the cleanup stage, not at the writing stage.
Michael Quinan, a British expert on language, he’s got a great site called Worldwide Words, he said this.
A writer who fixes too much attention on the correctness of his punctuation or a reader who does the same is missing the point.
The job of text is to communicate, not satisfy pedantic rulemakers.
Basically, he’s adjusting the priority a little bit, just making sure you’re paying attention to the content a little more than you are the style.
Right, and if you’re writing and you listen to that inner critic and you start messing with it.
Yeah, it’s a roadblock to progress, right?
Right.
Now, there’s another guy named Stuart Froman.
He’s a copywriting pro.
He’s in the business of just writing great copy.
And he says,
Perfect grammar, whether written or spoken, never solves a problem except the problem of imperfect grammar.
It doesn’t make a person more creative or a better thinker.
It can’t turn a bad idea into a good one or an unclear thought into a clear one.
It doesn’t guarantee that we will be understood.
In other words, what Stuart Froman is saying is that when you pay attention to your content,
You will hand off more to the observer, the reader, or the listener than you will if you pay all your attention to the grammar.
Well, yeah, you can clean it up later.
Yeah, but there can be something that’s perfectly grammatical, but it’s nonsense.
Well, yeah, it reminds me of that famous quotation,
Proofread carefully to see if you have any words out.
What are your favorite inspirations when it comes to writing?
What’s the advice that you turn to when you want to feel like an inspired writer?
Or send your favorite quotes about writing to words@waywordradio.org
