Why We Should Write: Commonplace Book

“Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. … It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.”
—Enid Bagnold

“Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.”
—Hunter S. Thompson

“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
—Samuel Johnson

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.”
—Elmore Leonard

“One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing—writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.”
—Lawrence Block

     
       I'm saving these five quotes as inspiration when I feel as though I have failed, am failing, or otherwise need encouragement. They are brought to you courtesy of Writer's Digest. 

       Writing is hard work. It is dirty, maddening, challenging in the worst ways, and sometimes, if you're really lucky, it's altogether wonderful. Even the best of us need occasional fortitude against self doubt. Even the best of us have off days. But when we do, what distinguishes the best from the worst and the just-okay is sheer determination, and a willingness to trudge through the pain, and the suffering, and the really long nights, all in the name of making art.