NaNoWriMo-Themed Writing Quote

Today is the day I planned to post another writing quote from Michael Palmer. If you're new to the blog and wondering why I keep writing about Michael Palmer, read about the No Shame Novelist project here.

Instead, I decided to post a motivational NaNoWriMo quote because I need a kick in the pants to start my All Day NaNoWriMo Novel Writing Pajama Party event. While others are at the mall or perhaps even crashing from their all-night Black Friday shopping spree (Can you believe some places opened at midnight?? What happened to enjoying the holidays? I now know beyond all doubt that Americans hate themselves and want to be punished.), I will be in bed with coffee mug close to hand, laptop on lap, typing away, or if not typing, staring at the screen with NaNo devotion.

Here's the quote, and I hope it helps you as much as it helps me: "The single most important technique for making progress is to write ten words." -first sentence of Naomi Novik's NaNoWriMo pep talk

You can write ten words, right? This is something I can do even on a bad day, and she's right: the first ten words lead to other words. Writing these words means you're doing it--you're writing your novel.

Here's another one that isn't directly from NaNoWriMo, but it applies: "God sells us all things at the price of labor." -Leonardo da Vinci

For those of you who think you're working on a real pile of dung right now: "Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." -Harper Lee

I found the last two quotes in Sue Reichard's Suite101 article. Here's one last quote I liked: "A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." -Thomas Mann

(Now that I reread my post, I suppose some people would put noveling at manic speed all day long on a holiday weekend in the same camp as holiday shopping through the night and wee hours of the morn in terms of effort expended, caffeine consumed, and sanity abandoned. Fine. I concede their point. I am a fully integrated, self-loathing citizen. Drop me a note if you've got similar plans this weekend.)