Monday Morning Quote: Stephanie Elizondo Griest on Miracles

I used to think authors could make their books best-sellers through willpower alone. But we can't. What we need is a miracle.

And that's fantastic. Because miracles happen. Like my Princeton fellowship. That one application, assembled the night before the deadline, bought a whole year of time to think and create. If I've learned anything in this business, it's that the more you fling yourself out there and chase those dreams and miracles, the higher your likelihood of catching one. [Lesson No. 7: Miracles happen, especially if you pursue them.]

—Stephanie Elizondo Griest, "Confessions of an Author Nomad" in Poets & Writers

The monday morning quote returns after a brief hiatus for a family emergency and I'm going to start the new year with a quote I find to be both inspiring and true--and with a plug for Poets & Writers.

In the first serious writing class I took, in the fall of 2001, our wonderful instructor Jane Brox spent a few minutes of our final class giving us some parting advice on becoming a writer, and one of her recommendations was Poets & Writers. I've had a subscription ever since, and I look forward every other month to an issue packed with interviews, advice, and deadlines. This week's quote comes from the section called "The Practical Writer," available in the print edition only, where I always seem to find something something useful and inspiring. I bet you will too.

Monday Morning Quote: Samuel Beckett on Persistence

All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

—Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho

Thanks to Legendary Cow Skull Cindy for the suggestion!

Monday Morning Quote: Robin Abrahams on a Career in the Arts

I think there are only two kinds of people who make those "If you could be happy doing anything besides acting, do it!" or "People become writers because they have no choice but to write!" One kind are the people in the field who want to feel special, called in some way, or at least not to feel so bad that they are 30 years old and don’t have health insurance. There isn't any shame in being 30 years old with no health insurance—but there’s no great romance or meaning to it, either. Really, you could have taken the real estate class and become a leasing agent. You chose not to, which is fine, but it really is a choice. The muse invites you to dance, she doesn’t mug you in an alley.

—Robin Abrahams, What We Want to Be on her blog, Miss Conduct's Mind Over Manners

Robin Abrahams (Miss Conduct) is my favorite advice columnist. She manages to be both sensible and very funny on every topic, both manners-related or, in this case, not. Check out her blog and her new book.

Monday Morning Quote: William Stafford on What Makes a Successful Poem

[R]eaders do not like to extend credit to poets: a poem must have early rewards. It must be eventful in language; there must be early and frequent verbal events. Content, or topic, is not nearly enough, of course. A poem is an experience in the reading or hearing; the eventfulness of a poem comes in the experience of the reader. And in those events for the reader there must be coherence; one experience must relate to and enhance the next, and so on. Readers should not be loaded with more information and guidance than a lively mind needs—puzzlement can be accepted, but insulting clarity is fatal to a poem.

—William Stafford, You Must Revise Your Life

Monday Morning Quote: Annie Dillard, via Alexander Chee, on Persistence

Talent isn’t enough, she had told us. Writing is work. Anyone can do this, anyone can learn to do this. It’s not rocket science, it’s habits of mind and habits of work. I started with people much more talented than me, she said, and they’re dead or in jail or not writing. The difference between myself and them is that I’m writing.

—Alexander Chee, "Annie Dillard and the Writing Life", in Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives, edited by Elizabeth Benedict

On the basis of this quote alone, I will be attending the event for this title presented by the Harvard Bookstore, Grub Street, and The Cambridge Center for Adult Education on Friday, November 13th, at 6:00PM at the Brattle Theater. Five bucks gets you in to hear Elizabeth Benedict and contributors Chris Castellani, Margot Livesey, Jay Cantor, Julia Glass, and Jim Shepard talk about mentorship and influence. Check it out!

Special thanks to Kevin for suggesting this quote.