Favorite Writing Quotes

They’re retweeted countless times on Twitter, reblogged often on Tumblr, and written on post-it notes and stuck up on the walls around my desk. I’m talking writing quotes.  They’re everywhere and I’m certain we’ve all taken a liking to a handful of them. Out of every quote we read, sometimes we can’t help but allow the words to stick with us. They encourage us, make us laugh, have us nodding our heads in solemn agreement… Words spoken by writers everywhere and in every time that still to this day are spoken again and again, whether aloud or in text.

And I’m sure we all have our favorites, whether we mean to favorite them or not. They just pair up with us in the moment, fitting our personal situation and life. Here’s a few of my current favorites;

“It is impossible to discourage the real writers – they don’t give a damn what you say. They’re going to write.”    ~Sinclair Lewis

It’s an accepted fact that all writers are crazy, even the normal ones are weird.    ~ William Goldman

Writing is my time machine, takes me to the precise time and place I belong.     ~Jeb Dickerson

Well, there’s some of my favorites. I know there are so many more out there, though. Why not share your own favorites?

A New Year and a New Chapter

I hope this year you will have an adventure and live your life. Maybe laugh at yourself, experience love, and enjoy the moment as fully as you can. Read a book, write a poem, draw a picture, or do something else creative. Do something spontaneous. Daydream a little. Stare at the clouds and listen to the wind. Watch a thunderstorm, even. Really live your life this year and make it a year you’ll never forget. This is my New Year wish for you.

 

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope this next chapter in all of our lives will be a wondrous adventure full of personal growth and experiences that we will never forget. May your muses bless you and your lives be filled with joy and awe that you will face with excitement and a fiery, healthy curiosity that will bring you to understand the world and yourself a little more.

Sincerely,

Brittni A. Bennett

P.S.

How did everyone do with their December writing goals? ;)

Writing Goals – 2011 December Edition

Well, I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged an update. Usually NaNo goes fairly smooth for me so I’m able to blog while still making my word count, no problem. But this year threw me through a loop. Suddenly, a social life hit me out of no where and a crazy sleep schedule had me exhausted. I felt like I really did nothing more than stare at the computer screen for days on end and it was frustrating.

But I still made the 50k! How did everyone else do? Was it difficult or did you fly through it with ease?
Whether you made the 50k or not, there is something we all have in common– besides committing to an insane venture to write 50,000 words in 30 days, that is. Can you guess what that would be? That’s right.

Writing goals.

We all have them and we all struggle with them. Maybe not all the time but struggles do happen and when they do we need some support and something to hold ourselves to. So here’s what I’m suggesting. When we share our goals with the public we take responsibility for those goals or else we appear to be fools in front of others. I have a long list of goals ahead, including the preparations for the ebook release of my novel “Zombie Suicide” next year. And what better way then to count our goals and celebrate the completion of them together? Comment and tell me your goals for the month. They don’t have to be huge! In fact, I would be amazed if they were since this is one of the craziest holiday seasons… But share your goals and then tell us if you reached them at the end of the month!

I’ll get us started! Here’s mine for the month of December:

• Get a facebook author page up and running
• Get a website ready (not running, but ready)
• Keep tending to my current writing projects at a calm but steady pace

So what are your writing goals? Let me know! As writers, it’s always nice to know you’re not alone in what you do.

Pre-NaNo Preparations

With ten more days before NaNoWriMo, writers everywhere are stocking up on amounts of caffeine that will send the caffeine stocks sky rocketing and food that one would normally only day dream of consuming so regularly as some do in November. Paper is being hoarded, pens are collected in massive numbers, and typist are loosening their fingers and readying their keyboards for the unfathomable speeds of writing that will occur.

But with all the haste that writers are preparing, my NaNoWriMo stocks are low and my outline is unfinished. How do I feel about it?

Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.

Should I be working on it instead of writing this blog post?
Undoubtedly.

So while I do that, I would like to know how everyone else is doing with their pre-NaNo preparations! Are you all set? Maybe you’re running around and frantically planning like me? Are you pantsing or plotting this year? Let’s hear it, fellow wordsmiths!

21 Years To Look Back On

So here I am. Twenty-one. The big hurtle. Completely and 100% legal age now. Most people would run out and get smashed, or buy their first pack of beer. Not me. In fact, I got up early to enjoy the morning, listening to the sparrows chirp, the wind chime in my window, and the autumn wind blowing through the trees and find this a nice day to reflect back on my life. It’s a miracle I’ve made it to this age; particularly since I was a troublemaker since before I could walk. As a person, I feel I’ve come a far way… but I know I certainly haven’t come as far as I could have nor am I done. This is really just the beginning of another chapter in my life.

And I’m excited for it. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead for me and how I will develop as a person along this road. I know I have some points I have to work on– hell, I have many things I should really work on… But that’s the fun part of life. Where will I go? How will I change? What will I do? These are all uncertainties of the future. Often, as humans, we’re afraid of what we don’t know. But at the same time, we can’t resist finding out. We’ve been to the moon, to the depths of the ocean… And even lands that don’t exist through the simple words written by another living person and their visions and imagination. It’s one of the reasons I love reading books. You’re along for that ride into the unknown. You pick up a book with only the vaguest idea of what will happen and settle in to join the main character for the adventure.

Well, today I am the main character of my story– my life. I’m not dreading what comes with the evening, or even what may happen tomorrow. I’m welcoming it and whatever challenges it holds. And with each new experience, I will have another piece of knowledge to refer to when I’m writing stories and adventures for others to read and enjoy.

I’ve come a long way. Twenty-one years… Wow… My perception of the world has changed so much from when I was a child hunting for dragons in the bushes or faeries in the forests, but when I look around I can still see the magic there. The rustling of leaves can still be sprites darting to their hiding places, or a fallen tree can still be a den for a dragon. It’s these little thoughts that give me the inspiration I need… And as long as I continue to see the little glimmers of magic in the world, I’ll retain who I really am inside;

A crazy, striving writer who will– with any luck– be published one day soon and has no sense of reality. ;P

 

So… Here’s to another chapter. Just write. Keep reading and, most of all, let yourself live and dream.

Falling off the Wagon

Well, it certainly has been a while. What happened? I was doing so well at keeping up on Twitter, emails, and WordPress posts, and even my writing. Then, pretty suddenly, I fell off of the wagon. Life got in the way. Medical issues, family issues… It all hit at once and stretched out for long spans of time. The only thing I felt I had any spare time to do was write bits and pieces to my works in progress or just lay on the couch and take the time to relax. By the time things settled down, I had fallen out of my habits and felt too burned out to even try catching up to that wagon rolling off in the distance without me.

What now? How am I supposed to get back on that wagon when it’s so far off it looks impossible to catch? It all felt too overwhelming and if it wasn’t for the fact that I had done it before then I would be thinking that juggling everything while maintaining a life was impossible. Even thinking about how I managed everything made me wonder if I had temporarily gained super powers.

But that’s not the case. I did it. No super powers or magical abilities! Just hard work and time management. And even though life is still pretty crazy right now, I’m rolling up my sleeves and chasing after that wagon to climb back on and hold tight.

Setbacks Happen

Ever have a day where you wanted to give up on something completely? You’ve worked so hard to reach a goal or get a pay off and something happens to slow that down or stop it completely? Today was one of those days.

I walked outside to the garden to check on the strawberries I worked really hard to plant. They had been growing significantly larger and more red with each passing day. Excitement jumped through me like electricity each time I lay eyes on them. I could picture tasting the first one off of the little plant. A juicy red strawberry I had planted and grown on my own!

Yet, when I looked at the plant, there were no strawberries. In fact, the poor plant had been half chewed and squirrel tracks littered the pot I planted it in.

WHAT THE HELL? I was insanely angry– no, I was raging. All this work… I had callouses on my hands and suffered through days of soreness and exhaustion to work on this garden and these strawberries and I didn’t even get to taste the almost ripe berry! All this work and there was no pay off.

Now that I’m calmer, I’m okay. In fact, I see a connection with writing. I’m not published yet. And I never will be published unless I keep working and writing. I’ll never get any strawberries unless I keep tend to the plant, weed it, water it, and help it grow. Both require constant work and effort and both have a pay off later on.

Of course, the strawberries will pay off much sooner since they grow faster than I work. *hehe, insert drum snare here*

… Yeah, just kidding. Though it’s probably true. ;)

The fact is, I have to keep working everyday before I can taste that delicious first ripe strawberry that I planted and helped grow all on my own.
See what I did there? I used “strawberries” as an innuendo for writing.

What can you compare you’re writing to? Do you feel like giving up some days because the reward seems too far off or too impossible to achieve?