@patverducci.bsky.social
“Remember the good hours when the words are flowing well. And never mind the bad hours; there is no life without them.”
― Herman Wouk
― Herman Wouk
December 18, 2025 at 4:15 PM
“Remember the good hours when the words are flowing well. And never mind the bad hours; there is no life without them.”
― Herman Wouk
― Herman Wouk
“The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in.”
― Henry Green
― Henry Green
December 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
“The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in.”
― Henry Green
― Henry Green
“Good writing is remembering detail. Most people want to forget. Don't forget things that were painful or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that tells the truth.”
― Paula Danziger
― Paula Danziger
December 16, 2025 at 4:28 PM
“Good writing is remembering detail. Most people want to forget. Don't forget things that were painful or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that tells the truth.”
― Paula Danziger
― Paula Danziger
Somebody once said, ‘You can’t just set off on a path and have fun writing,’ – which I tend to do – ‘You have to go back and hone it’ And that’s the most brutal thing of all because you’re not getting the joy of discovery. It’s the joy that comes later when you’ve done the brutal work. Cameron Crowe
December 15, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Somebody once said, ‘You can’t just set off on a path and have fun writing,’ – which I tend to do – ‘You have to go back and hone it’ And that’s the most brutal thing of all because you’re not getting the joy of discovery. It’s the joy that comes later when you’ve done the brutal work. Cameron Crowe
“I had forgotten that, and so many things. How could I put everything down on paper? It seemed impossible. No matter what, the majority of life would be left out of this story, this sliver of a version of the life I'd known. But I tried anyway.”
― Dave Eggers
― Dave Eggers
December 13, 2025 at 3:42 PM
“I had forgotten that, and so many things. How could I put everything down on paper? It seemed impossible. No matter what, the majority of life would be left out of this story, this sliver of a version of the life I'd known. But I tried anyway.”
― Dave Eggers
― Dave Eggers
“So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
December 12, 2025 at 3:43 PM
“So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
― Mahatma Gandhi
December 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
― Mahatma Gandhi
“He felt as he always did when he finished a book. It was like toiling uphill through jungle and breaking out to a clearing at the top after months of hell only to discover nothing more rewarding than a view of a freeway—with a few gas stations thrown in for good behavior." Stephen King, Misery
December 6, 2025 at 5:16 PM
“He felt as he always did when he finished a book. It was like toiling uphill through jungle and breaking out to a clearing at the top after months of hell only to discover nothing more rewarding than a view of a freeway—with a few gas stations thrown in for good behavior." Stephen King, Misery
“If you focus on the humanity of your stories, your characters, then the horror will be stronger, scarier. Without the humanity, the horror becomes nothing more than a tawdry parlor trick. All flash and no magic, and worst of all, no heart.”
― Don Roff
― Don Roff
December 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
“If you focus on the humanity of your stories, your characters, then the horror will be stronger, scarier. Without the humanity, the horror becomes nothing more than a tawdry parlor trick. All flash and no magic, and worst of all, no heart.”
― Don Roff
― Don Roff
“Remember that writing is translation, and the opus to be translated is yourself.”
― E.B. White
― E.B. White
December 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
“Remember that writing is translation, and the opus to be translated is yourself.”
― E.B. White
― E.B. White
“A character is defined by the kinds of challenges he cannot walk away from.”
― Arthur Miller
― Arthur Miller
December 3, 2025 at 4:06 PM
“A character is defined by the kinds of challenges he cannot walk away from.”
― Arthur Miller
― Arthur Miller
“I really do literally put myself into a character's shoes.”
― Ruth Rendell
― Ruth Rendell
December 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
“I really do literally put myself into a character's shoes.”
― Ruth Rendell
― Ruth Rendell
“Ideas come at any moment -- except when you demand them. Most ideas come while I'm physically active, at the gym, with friends, gardening, so I always carry pen and paper.”
― Chuck Palahniuk
― Chuck Palahniuk
December 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
“Ideas come at any moment -- except when you demand them. Most ideas come while I'm physically active, at the gym, with friends, gardening, so I always carry pen and paper.”
― Chuck Palahniuk
― Chuck Palahniuk
“The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't you kind of feel what I'm feeling?”
― George Saunders
― George Saunders
November 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
“The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't you kind of feel what I'm feeling?”
― George Saunders
― George Saunders
“We are now living in an age which doubts both fact and value. It is the life of this age that we wish to see and judge.”
― Flannery O'Connor
― Flannery O'Connor
November 24, 2025 at 4:54 PM
“We are now living in an age which doubts both fact and value. It is the life of this age that we wish to see and judge.”
― Flannery O'Connor
― Flannery O'Connor
“drill one hole after another into [language] until that which lurks behind, be it something or nothing, starts seeping through – I cannot imagine a higher goal for today’s writer.”
― Samuel Beckett
― Samuel Beckett
November 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
“drill one hole after another into [language] until that which lurks behind, be it something or nothing, starts seeping through – I cannot imagine a higher goal for today’s writer.”
― Samuel Beckett
― Samuel Beckett
“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.”
― Janet Frame
― Janet Frame
November 21, 2025 at 3:52 PM
“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.”
― Janet Frame
― Janet Frame
“The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory, already a revolt.”
― Rebecca Solnit
― Rebecca Solnit
November 20, 2025 at 8:02 PM
“The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory, already a revolt.”
― Rebecca Solnit
― Rebecca Solnit
“When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.”
― Stephen King
― Stephen King
November 19, 2025 at 4:18 PM
“When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.”
― Stephen King
― Stephen King
“To write is to re-create something as you'd like it to be.”
― Annabel Monaghan
― Annabel Monaghan
November 18, 2025 at 4:09 PM
“To write is to re-create something as you'd like it to be.”
― Annabel Monaghan
― Annabel Monaghan
“Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things--childhood, certainties, cities, dreams--that go on slipping, like sand, through our fingers.” Salman Rushdie“
November 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
“Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things--childhood, certainties, cities, dreams--that go on slipping, like sand, through our fingers.” Salman Rushdie“
“Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of the writer.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut
November 15, 2025 at 4:33 PM
“Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of the writer.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
― Kurt Vonnegut
“Beginning to write, you discover what you have to write about.”
― Kit Reed
― Kit Reed
November 14, 2025 at 4:01 PM
“Beginning to write, you discover what you have to write about.”
― Kit Reed
― Kit Reed
“An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.”
― Gustave Flaubert
― Gustave Flaubert
November 13, 2025 at 3:54 PM
“An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.”
― Gustave Flaubert
― Gustave Flaubert