More Author Insight: Writing Mission Statement

If you were to have a mission statement or mantra for your writing what would it be?

"Always try new things." - Dan Wells, author of Fragments. 

"'Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.' —Henry David Thoreau." - Natalie Whipple, author of Transparent. 

"Give yourself permission to write utter crap. Then fix it!" - Page Morgan, author of The Beautiful and the Cursed. 

"The real writing is in the revisions." - Nova Ren Suma, author of 17 & Gone.

"Tell the truth with heart and humour – and don’t be boring." - Dave Cousins, author of 15 Days Without a Head. 

"Keep writing! That's it. Just keep writing." - Suzanne Young, author of The Program. 

Write honest and true. Michael Chabon said that whenever you feel like backing off of something, then that's exactly when you should be writing it down." - Emma Carlson Berne, author of Never Let Go. 

"Never get in the way of the story. Sometimes what you think should happen isn’t actually the best course for the story to run. If a new direction appears organically, then it might be for the best – even if it means trashing the last 14,000 words you just typed." - Josin McQuein, author of Arclight. 

"This above all: to thine character be true." - Scott Blagden, author of Dear Life, You Suck. 

"Get it done." - Lindsey Leavitt, author of Going Vintage. 

"It's like breathing.  If you stop, you wither and die.  So, as long as I have something fresh to say, and I'm not writing and rewriting the same story a dozen times, I'll keep breathing life into my characters." - Lois Ruby, author of Rebel Spirits. 

"Ask interesting questions and answer them with honesty and complexity." - Robyn Schneider, author of Severed Heads, Broken Hearts. 

"Write honestly. Writers hear a lot about writing 'what they know,' but I think that advice pales in comparison to the idea that you should write what you are, who you are, what you love, how you feel, what you believe--all the things that scare you, all that things that *are* you, honestly. It might not make for a happy story or a story that people love or "get" in the same way you do, but you'll never regret your work if it comes from an honest place." - Kristin Halbrook, author of Nobody But Us.

Come back Tuesday to find out if page count is intimidating to the authors and learn whether it affects the way they write!

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