“There are writers and there are authors. Writers seek to write, and they seek to write better and better with every book. Authors seek only to be published, and they seek advances to match their egos.”
—Elizabeth George in Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks.
Elizabeth George offers this word of advice on the third page of the Introduction in Terry Brooks’ book on the craft of writing. That is what Brooks focuses upon in the tightly written book of 197 pages Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life. I have taken so many notes on this book, and I’ve yet to finish it. Brooks’ words and advice had left an impression upon me.
George warns at the top of that same third page of the introduction, that those who are reading and who seek only to have their “…timeless dialogue enunciated on screen by… Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts need read no further. What Terry Brooks has to say…will not satiate your appetite for instant fame and fortune…Terry Brooks is going to tell you about craft.”
In a time when the world and all of us on the planet are moving, if not being encouraged to move at light speed, Brooks’ words tell us that nothing good can be rushed.
And if we find something good, something that in doing it brings us joy, we must do three things. Keeping doing it. Seek to do it better. And slow down. Better yet, do not let anyone rush you.
Yet Brooks whet and satiated my appetite, so much so that I had to write about it, share what I learned and what he said that affirmed my inner knowing. Though published, I am a writer.
What are you?
How long does it take you to write your novels?
How do you feel about that?
I am a WRITER and writers write, period. Sometimes I can write a story in minutes…others take years, depends on where I am going and whether I am in a hurry to get there or not…
angelia
.-= angelia´s last blog ..UNAPOLOGETICALLY, A SISTA! =-.
You are quite right.
Writing takes time.
Crafting and revising a story requires a process that true writers savor.