I’m not quite sure I’ve earned the right to call myself a Picture Book writer just yet (that’s another blog post right?), but here I am. A new Picture Book writer crossing my fingers tightly and hoping that a publishing house or agent will take a bite of my work soon. I’ve had my fishing line out for such a short time. But, I’m a strong believer that you have to be in the right place at the right time… with a brilliant piece of writing to begin with – most definitely.
Along my journey of plotting, drafting, writing, re writing and editing like there is no tomorrow, I’ve come across some inspiring quotes that gave me a good kick off the straight and narrow path to my finished Picture Book. Because the crazier and messier your writing journey is, the more chance you have of coming up with something that you can look back on and think – I didn’t know I had that in me! Here are my 10 thought-provoking quotes for new writers.
“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” – Terry Pratchett
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” – Jodi Picoult
“Words are our most inexhaustible course of magic.” – J. K. Rowling
“The writer is by nature a dreamer, a conscious dreamer.” Carson McCullers
“You can’t really use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Maya Angelou
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” – Robert Frost
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” – Anton Chekhov
“It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly.” – C.J. Cherryh
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison
“Start before you are ready.” – Steven Pressfield
I hope these have given you a sprinkle of inspiration in the right direction. If you are looking for more quotes, you might also enjoy these:
Happiness is a Disney quote that leaves you grinning like the cheshire cat
Quotes for when you want to run into the this week like…YOLO
Marvellous Harry Potter quotes for when you’ve had a hard week
Quotes to help you let go of feeling like you must always be perfect
WILD is now out in Spanish!
WILD – Our debut children’s picture book
Dad blogger Ross Good from The Stented Papa is the official storyteller for WILD!
Happy book birthday WILD!
You can’t edit a blank page. So true for writing and life.
We certainly all need to hear these motivating quotes! I am sure you will have a successful book – keep going!
Wise words to remember! Quite motivational!
I am a dreamer by nature but wish I was a conscious dreamer, love these quotes definitelys put one in the right space. Hope someone sees your picture book and publishes it.
Wishing you all the best for your book writing project.
These are great quotes and quite thought provoking for anyone really!
These are all great quotes! I think my favourite is the one about the bad page versus the blank page.
These quotes are really fab. Relevant, motivational and very inspirational for sure xx
i love the first quote – its actually written in my diary – whenever i buy new diary i tend to write a favorite quote for that said year 🙂 so i am glad to see it made your selection x
I like the one about editing a bad page but not being able to edit a blank page. Whenever I am struggling to blog, I just bash away at the keyboard with my notes and it eventually all comes together! Thanks for sharing these inspirational quotes #DreamTeamLinky
Lovely quotes here – and a lot of them can be adapted to any situation in life. How do you know you can’t before you try, just take the leap. I especially love the blank page one. Inspiring on a Sunday morning x #DreamTeam
Writing is such a solitary pursuit. It’s good to be reminded that we are in good company.
You can’t edit a blank page… Saw that quote for the first time last week and actually inspired me to write something after a week of brain freeze!
#Dreamteamlinky
Love it! I need to tell my son the you can’t edit a blank page one as even with homework he always struggles so much to get that first idea down and then it just flows #DreamTeamLinky
All very inspiring & motivational quotes! Good luck placing your picture book! #DreamTeamLinky