Over time, I’ve aggregated a number of famous (and not-so-famous) quotes that I think frame the writer’s never-ending hunt for inspiration and the ability to craft story. 

Here are my ‘7 Axioms of Writing’. Or maybe 7 Immutable Laws of Writing? Either way, I have this printed out and hanging on my office wall.

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.

— Winston Churchill

But, 

“The job of the writer is not to supply the ideas it is to be patient enough to find the ideas.” 

— Malcolm Gladwell 

Of course… 

“You cannot wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” 

— Jack London 

To wit! 

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” 

— Peter De Vries 

And then, 

“To be a writer of any measure, one must be a reader in full measure.”  

— S.E. Allen

And then again, 

“Writer’s block; you only get stumped when you’re not in touch deeply enough with your topic.”  

— S.E Allen

However… 

“A limited-objective mission that flies is more desirable than a gold-plated one that sits forever on the drawing board.” 

— Paul D. Spudis

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash