March 29, 2022

 

 

Note From Rochelle

 

Dear Writers,

Today’s tip offers you some encouragement from writers I profiled in my book, Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers, and Revolutionaries who Changed the World Through Writing. If you’ve read it, please review it at Amazon (I am six reviews away from the magic 50!). And request that your local library order it for their collection.

Thank you!

Happy writing,

Rochelle, the Write Now! Coach

 

Quotes to Inspire

For the past 30 years, I’ve kept a commonplace book (You can see my post about it here. Lately, I’ve taken to copying quotes into a Word document so that I can easily access and share them. Enjoy these quotes, and then add your own in the blog’s comments section.

 

The Power of Creativity

“It’s a strange time. We all have to figure out new ways to move forward, however small. This is a challenge to be creative.”

—Gene Luen Yang (New York Times)

 

 

“Creativity is definitely a powerful tool for change. My music changed my family’s mind about my future. It helped them understand something they didn’t understand before.”

—Sonita Alizadeh

 

 

When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived!

―Anne Frank

The Power of Discipline

“I have advice in just a few words. The first, of course, is to read. It’s surprising how many people think they want to be writers but they don’t really like to read books. … And the second is to write, every day, whether you like it or not. Screw inspiration. The third is to forget about talent, whether or not you have any. Because it really doesn’t matter.”

—Octavia Butler

 

 

The Power of Play

When U2 was making the album, “No Line on the Horizon,” Bono noted that they missed a deadline to do better work. Here’s what Bono said, “When anyone said, ‘Look we have to put this out,’ Larry [Mullen, Jr., U2’s drummer] said, ‘Oh, it’s going to ruin everything.’ We were making music for its own sake and for each other, and Larry wanted to keep that as long as we could. It was a lovely thing to be lost in.”

 

The Power of Storytelling

“We tell a story to survive a memory in much the same way the oyster survives an invading grain of sand. The pearl is the story of our lives, even if most wouldn’t admit it.”

—Sandra Cisneros