And I have this little litany of things they can do. And the first one, of course, is to write - every day, no excuses. It's so easy to make excuses. Even professional writers have days when they'd rather clean the toilet than do the writing.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of discipline and consistency in writing despite the temptation to procrastinate.
Octavia Butler illustrates the struggle that writers face with procrastination and the various distractions that can prevent productive work. By advocating for writing every day without excuses, she highlights the discipline needed to overcome these challenges and commit to the craft of writing. This approach of consistency can foster growth and creativity in any endeavor.
In practice
In a writing workshop, a facilitator might share this quote to encourage participants to prioritize their writing goals.
What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.
Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.
Here I was into astronomy, and here into anthropology, and there I go into geology. It was much more fun to be able to research and write about whatever I wanted to.
There is no end To what a living world Will demand of you.
You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.
A high view of God’s sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions. Maybe another way to put it, people, and more specifically pastors, who believe that God’s sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of all peoples.
We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.
I still get rejections - frequently - and my goal isn't to never fail, to never be turned down, but simply to succeed more often than I don't. And in order to do that, I have to constantly put myself out there, to judgment, critique, and rejection.
Take what you can do and use it for the highest good to benefit others.
The world doesn't need any more mediocrity or hedged bets.
One of the principal reasons why so many fail to get what they want is because they do not definitely know what they want, or because they change their wants almost every day. Know what you want and continue to want it. You will get it if you combine desire with faith. The power of desire when combined with faith becomes invincible.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.