Image via WikipediaI never read anything without a pen and paper by my side. And since I just finished devouring the February 2009 issue of Writer’s Digest, I thought I’d share the quotes I jotted down as I read.

Each one of these apply, in some way, to where I am at this point in my writing career. Although the magazine now sits in the recycling bin, these quotes will continue to live on–in loopy, colorful script–in my journal:

“My advice for beginning writers is to pee in dangerous places, always. Then give your characters that feeling of imminent danger.”

- George Singleton

“The first draft of anything is shit.”

- Earnest Hemmingway

“After I’ve got a chapter or two roughed out, I go from my handwritten pages to my PC, where I edit and rewrite as I go, adding new text and omitting what–I can now clearly see–doesn’t work.”

- Elizabeth Sims

“I have a very long pre-writing process where I’m jotting down ideas in a notebook, and ripping out relevant newspaper articles–a long fact-finding mission… It’s like a heightened awareness. I’m now attuned to everything on this particular topic.”

- Megan McCafferty

“Once you’ve found a strong central desire within your hero, your plot decisions boil down to forcing him into the danger of his own feelings. All else becomes secondary.”

- Steve Almond

“Remember that you’re an artist, not a deal maker. Interestingly, the work I’ve done for money hasn’t been great, but what I’ve written for love was most successful.”

- Susan Shapiro

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