This is my new mantra concerning my novel:

"If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton,
you may as well make it dance."
- George Bernard Shaw

I have had a great deal of luck using the Dorothy Parker method of taking a line or two of poetry I like and beginning a poem with it myself. Here are some quotes that have served me well:

Is there anybody going to listen to my story?

-John Lennon, "Girl"

But O, the thorns we stand upon!

-Shakespeare as Florizel, The Winter's Tale

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"

They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm.

- Dorothy Parker, "Fair Weather"

Comment with your favorite quotes; I would love to hear and maybe use them.

C. Hope Clark writes in her FundsForWriters newsletter:

The serious writer:

• writes regardless of the circumstances
• rewrites until he can't stand to look at the words
• rewrites more until he adores his words and wonders how the heck he ever wrote that first draft
• would like to earn money as a writer but won't stop writing because he can't pay the rent from the income
• is in no hurry to publish a great story
• doesn't submit not knowing if the story is good

I am quite frustrated with my hosting service. My website, AprilBoland.com, has been down for a week, though it has always been maintained and paid for. The thing that bothers me is how it might hurt my credibility. The last thing I need is editors finding an "expired" site through my link. Voice mails and emails haven't helped yet. BlueFish Hosting, you disappoint.

In other news, I really got a handle on my second (and now primary) novel. If anyone pays attention to the word count bars on the side of this blog, you will have noticed that after a very long dry spell, I wrote 1,100+ words of novel #2 on Sunday. My boyfriend and I spend a lot of time reading, writing and lounging in local coffeehouses, and we found one on Sunday that was so comfortable and great that I let loose a barrage of inspiration. It was pretty exciting, after all this time of banging my head against the wall.

In order to keep my momentum, I scoured the shelves of local libraries for appropriate books so I can research both the time period and the various psychological aspects of my characters. Wish me luck.

I leave you with a great quote from Suzanne Harrison that I found in my Worldwide Freelance Writer newsletter this morning:

"If you want to be a professional writer, earn your living as a writer, and succeed and prosper as a writer, then you must treat your writing as you would any other business, or professional service. Set your writing hours, and keep them. Don't wait for the muse to strike. Get up every day and write, regardless of what you're thinking or feeling. How would your boss respond if you didn't bother turning up for work? Would he understand that you "just don't feel like it today?" No, I didn't think so. So why do you treat your writing any differently?"

This quote came in my Worldwide Freelance Writer email newsletter this morning:

"Easy reading is damn hard writing."

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Writer's Insecurities

There's nothing like going to a poetry reading to make you realize that you are a crappy poet. I mean, the talent is so all-encompassing (if you've gone to a decent one) that you want to fold up your silly piece of paper, slip it back into your purse, order another hot chocolate and fade into obscurity because you know you will never be that good.

Or at least, that's how I feel.

I read my work anyway because that's what you do, especially when feeding off the energy vibes of the others. People are polite. They chuckle at my Beatles reference. They applaud. I step down.

I think one of my largest concerns is not a lack of talent but a lack of bravery. The truly gifted ones stood up and talked about being raped, about their preschool daughters being sexually abused, about the most horrific things you can imagine. Yet I leave my best stuff at home because "it's too personal."

Part of being a writer, I think, is dispensing with such vanities and speaking to the world.

I want to be brave enough not to hide behind a pen name or a mediocre poem, but to stand up and say to the world, "This is my story."

I read a fantastic quote the other day by actor Barry Pineo. He was talking about acting but the principle is the same:

"The story is the hand you're holding out to them that says, "Come with me." Whether they choose to take it is unimportant. Some people no longer wish to travel. What's important is that the offering is made."

I came across this blog entry at what's new, pussycat? entitled "how to be a great writer," and have to share this quote:

It was Literary Legends Week on the History Channel, so I’ve just about had a gutful of the greats all wrapped up in neat little digestable packages. Too much about their tawdry lives, not enough about the writing. A couple of highlights. Hemingway: wars, hunts, fishes, grows beard, dies. Fitzgerald: drinks, drinks, jazz, crazy wife, drinks, drinks, dies.

What did I learn about writing from this extravaganza? Milk your experiences for all they’re worth. Don’t despair over that pesky world war, your evil tart of a wife, that cancer rotting in your lungs, your penchant for cross dressing, those annoying debt collectors with the big guns, whatever, it’s all choice material. It doesn’t matter that your family hate you for so blatantly plundering their lives for your novels, because you’re bound to die young, and years later when your family has carked it too, the world will realise how brilliant and original you were.

Mark Twain

An excellent quote from a literary master:

"Don't say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream."

This is why I love E.L. Doctorow:

"Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."

"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon."