Tag: writers quote wednesday

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Do What You Are Fitted For

My Writer’s Quote Wednesday pick for this week comes from Abraham Maslow in what I like to call: “Do What You Are Fitted For“:

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I wasn’t going to post a Writer’s Quote this week  as I have a meeting to attend in exactly two minutes from now (I better write fast!). I was, however,  struck by Maslow’s words and I definitely had to share it. This is an interesting quote. I think we all have a unique skill that is given to us for the purpose of contributing to the world and until we learn what that ability is and how to live for that purpose; we will always feel incomplete in some way. A lot of people have succeeded a lot in their lives per the definition of man’s success and yet they are not content with the lives that they are living. I think it possible that each person has to eventually give up what they think is happiness and just do what he or she was fitted for. Some call this destiny, striving to master the ability to use the skillfulness in which we were  specifically created for as our contribution to the world. Something to think about.

 

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“Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization”
– Wikipedia
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And that’s it for my contribution to Writer’s Quote Wednesday, hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading.
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Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Throwing Words

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Hey there loves, Welcome to another Writer’s Quote Wednesday Edition with Colleen of Silver Threading. I thought it would be fun to surprise her with a cartoon of us together since she got me so addicted to them.

Now, in other news, who’s throwing words tho?

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Whew, he said that.

There were lots of quotes I wanted to use from Richard Wright’s “Black Boy”, but I enjoyed this one the most as appropriate for Writer’s Quote Wednesday. I love Wright’s description of hurling words into the darkness and waiting for an echo because I think that is something all writers do. If we see light as symbolic of truth, of awakening, and of hope, then to throw our words into the darkness is to send hope out into the world. If someone responds, someone who has perhaps awaited this moment for some time, if that person responds, they are the echo that justifies the need for this light. They are the people who validate that the writing is not in vain and gives authors a kind of heads up that it is OK to throw more words out into the darkness. It is not from the perspective of writing specifically to be heard or writing for validation. The heads up instead informs us that there are others who are in need of the power these words have to offer.

About Black Boy

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Most of us are all familiar with Richard Wright by now (and if we aren’t Google is a gem) so I thought I’d give history on “Black Boy” instead, Wright’s Memoir.

From: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/b/black-boy/book-summary

 

 

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(clearing throat) yes these are cliff notes, don’t judge us:

“Black Boy”, an autobiography of Richard Wright’s early life, examines Richard’s tortured years in the Jim Crow South from 1912 to 1927. In each chapter, Richard relates painful and confusing memories that lead to a better understanding of the man a black, Southern, American writer who eventually emerges. Although Richard, as the narrator, maintains an adult voice throughout the story, each chapter is told from the perspective and knowledge that a child might possess. Yet, because the narrative is told with such force and honesty, the reliability of Richard’s memories is not questioned. By the story’s end, as Richard comes of age, the voice of the narrator and of the nineteen-year-old young man he has become merge into one.”

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And that’s it for this weeks segment. See ya next week 🙂

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Writer’s Quote Wednesday – The Short Story

My Writer’s Quote Wednesday for this week is in honor of the Short Story. Wendell Harris says:

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“…the short story is a ….presentation of a moment whose intensity makes it seem outside the ordinary stream of time, or the significance is outside the ordinary range of experience.” —Wendell Harris

I really like how Harris spoke about, “the presentation of a moment” because it is what I think about when I think of short stories. It’s like a sampling of the authors writing, pulling as much life from the story as is possible and then storing it into as few pages as possible, which is my goal for my current short story trilogy. To fit as much information as possible in just a few pages, while simultaneously providing for that bit of mystery that I think is important for the short story. I think Stella relates to this quote because it is the presentation of a single moment in history. It tackles the ongoing racial intensity of the past and brings it into our present day so that we are experiencing, in a unique way, the co-existing of past, present, and future.

I wanted to include an Author Bio from the quote but I read this as part of a list of short story quotes and saved them to my drive awhile back so I’m not sure who this particular Wendell Harris is, but what a great quote!

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And that’s it for this week’s episode of Writer’s Quote Wednesday, as hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading.

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Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Aldous Huxley

For this week’s segment of Writer’s Quote Wednesday, as hosted by the lovely Colleen of Silver Threading, I take inspiration from Aldous Huxley:

Aldous Huxley“Every man’s memory is his private literature.” ~Aldous Huxley

The influence of memory in our lives is thought-provoking. Even if it’s just the name of a character or birthplace, memory plays a part in what we write and often even how we write, which is what makes this quote so interesting. A lot of the stories in my books, for instance, take place in Chicago because I know Chicago. This is where I am from, where I was raised, and it is the city that I know. I do not have to make up the names of streets and towns and shops because I know them. I’ve been to Ford City, shopped at the Food & Liquor on 63rd and Western (it’s closed now), and lived on 47th Street. I’ve rode the Red Line through the loop, touched the people, smelled the food and heard the voices. As long as I have memory of Chicago, I’ll always have some story to tell.

About the Author:

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What I enjoy about this weekly prompt, in addition to the inspiring voices of authors who compel us to keep writing, is the search and discovery of new authors to explore. Sometimes it’s best to understand more about the quotes you use. I discovered for instance, that Aldous grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley, was known as a controversial naturalist in his time, nicknamed as “Darwin’s Bulldog”, which made me think twice about whether or not to use this quote since I don’t believe in anything with the words Darwin in the same sentence. But anyway, I decided to play nice though and let Aldous hang around a bit longer, so here’s his background according to The European Graduate School website:

“Aldous Huxley, was a British writer. He was born on July 26, 1894 and died on November 22, 1963. He would become most specifically known to the public for his novels, and especially his fifth one, Brave New World, written in 1931 and published in 1932.

Aldous Huxley would come to be known mostly as a novelist and essayist but he would also write some short stories, poetry, travelogues and even film scripts. In his novels and essays Aldous Huxley would always play the role of a critical observer of accepted traditions, customs, social norms and ideals. Importantly, he would be concerned in his writings with the potentially harmful applications of so-called scientific progress to mankind” 

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That’s it for this week’s segment. Be sure to check out the other #WQW posts from other  bloggers this week. Just look for “Writer’s Quote Wednesday” in your readers :).

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http://silverthreading.com/2015/08/12/writers-quote-wednesday-roald-dahl/

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Invest in Your Best

Good Morning Lovelies,

For today’s segment of Writer’s Quote Wednesday, hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading,  I draw inspiration from Brooke Griffin:

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Sometimes we try to get everything done in one sitting when it was never meant to be that way. My Writer’s Quote Wednesday this week is to encourage every writer to take it one day at a time. I don’t know anything about the author of this quote (when I goggled the name it was about fitness or something idk) but I used it anyway because when I read it I knew Brooke’s words were meant for this week, as it is on one accord with my thoughts. Each day presents its own opportunity for improvement. It can be something as simple as getting out of bed or writing a journal entry. It can be something as great as finishing a book or as simple as cleaning the house today. Every day is a learning experience and because the days change so dramatically from day to day there’s always room to improve or to learn more about a particular thing or skill. This is not to say to chase after fruitless knowledge, but personal growth is always continuous. So this is to encourage each writer to invest in his or her best. When you invest in your best you can’t go wrong, you’ve done all that you can do. Today your best may be writing for 15 minutes, and tomorrow it may be 20 minutes. Whatever the case, give it your all. And always seek more.

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That’s it this week. Don’t forget to check out all of the other awesome quotes from other bloggers. For some reason I can’t link to the picture today so Follow This Link instead to join the fun. 🙂

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Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Roald Dahl

So first I want to give a warm welcome to all of the new bloggers joining Writer’s Quote Wednesday. Yayy!

So for today’s segment of Colleens Writer’s Quote Wednesday, I draw my inspiration from Roald Dahl:

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This was definitely not my first choice for Writer’s Quote Wednesday but it carries with it a memory that I found exciting to share. Matilda was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid and I loved most that Matilda loved to read like I did. She was a magical kid with supernatural abilities but reading seemed to me to be her most powerful ability; it seemed to me her foundation. It didn’t just give her knowledge but it opened her mind.

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Of course, Matilda is a fictional character, but reading this quote brought me back to that innocence of childhood while simultaneously becoming inspirational writing advice. That is: you never know who your writing helps. The people who silently depend on the comfort of your words, hanging onto them like little pieces of salvation scribbled in ink. A breath of fresh air to whatever stifled reality they may find themselves in. Matilda was all alone in the emotional sense of not having a family who loved her but her mind was nurtured by the words of all those authors who knew nothing of it. Sometimes we are saviors to readers we will never know exist. If that ain’t inspiration, I don’t know what is.

About The Author:

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Roald Dahl is a children’s author who wrote many of the most famous children’s books turned movies of our childhood (well, some of our childhoods. I was born in ’87 so the 90s was kinda my time lol): Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach to name a few. Dahl wrote his first story for children, The Gremlins, in 1942, for Walt Disney but it wasn’t very successful at the time. It wasn’t until 1961 that Dahl first established himself as a children’s book writer with the publication of James and the Giant Peach which was adopted into a movie in 1996. Three years later (’64) Dahl published Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was also made into a popular movie. A film adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971.

In addition to James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl’s most popular kids’ books include Fantastic Fox (1970), and Matilda (1988).

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And that’s it for this week’s installment of Writer’s Quote Wednesday. Don’t forget to click the pic and join the fun….you know you want to!

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Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Maya Angelou

Welcome back to another episode of Writer’s Quote Wednesday on The PBS Blog as Hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading. This week, I take inspiration from Maya Angelou:

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I still remember when I told my English teacher I wanted to be a writer in High School. Instantly her eyes blushed the same color of worry my mother’s does when she knows I want to do something that is near impossible. As nice as she could put it, she explained that I may want to get an additional job, you know, just in case. Little did she know however that I’d wanted to write books since elementary school, and nothing she said was going to change that. She’d explained how difficult it is for writers and I even had a glimpse of them portrayed in movies. Always the same story: a struggling writer who can’t make ends meet because no one buys his books.

Any author understands how extreme the challenges can be. It seems that if you wish to take on writing and publishing, then you must also wish to take on defeat and failure. But when I read this quote, I am reminded that many of the struggles we endure are necessary to erect a kind of strength, a gift, or a power that we didn’t know existed inside of us at all. If I had not gone through what I have in my life, I would never be as effective in overcoming similar stumbling blocks headed my way. But these struggles do more than strengthen the individual, they strengthen others. None of the education in the world can compare to experience. When you’ve been between a rock and a hard place you can encourage and inspire others with your testimony, same as Angelou has just inspired us here. So, like her, I’d advise this Writer’s Quote Wednesday:

When you encounter many struggles in your writing endeavors, understand that it may be necessary for you to encounter them so that you can find your voice and become stronger at what you do. No hardship seems pleasant at the time, but know that in the end it is for your benefit.

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Don’t Forget to check out Silver Threading to see how you can join the fun and support other Writer’s Quote Bloggers. Trust me, they’re awesome. You know what to do :).