Ya Rly

dduane:

petermorwood:

gothiccharmschool:

Happy birthday, Sir Terry. You are an inspiration to me.

amandaonwriting:

Literary Birthday - 28 April

Happy Birthday, Terry Pratchett, born 28 April 1948

12 Quotes On Writing

1. Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.
2. You can’t build a plot out of jokes. You need tragic relief. And you need to let people know that when a lot of frightened people are running around with edged weaponry, there are deaths. Stupid deaths, usually. I’m not writing ‘The A-Team’ - if there’s a fight going on, people will get hurt. Not letting this happen would be a betrayal.
3. Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.
4. Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong.
5. I have to write because if I don’t get something down then after a while I feel it’s going to bang the side of my head off.
6. You can’t die with an unfinished book.
7. I’ve always felt that what I have going for me is not my imagination, because everyone has an imagination. What I have is a relentlessly controlled imagination. What looks like wild invention is actually quite carefully calculated.
8. No one’s policing their own minds more than an author. You spend a lot of time in your own head analysing what you think about things, and a philosophy comes.
9. In the first book of my Discworld series, published more than 26 years ago, I introduced Death as a character; there was nothing particularly new about this - death has featured in art and literature since medieval times, and for centuries we have had a fascination with the Grim Reaper.
10. Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.
11. I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
12. They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it’s not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

And one more on life: I believe it should be possible for someone stricken with a serious and ultimately fatal illness to choose to die peacefully with medical help, rather than suffer.

Pratchett is an English author of fantasy novels who was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010. He is best known for the Discworld series. Pratchett has sold more than 70 million books in 37 languages. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. Pratchett announced that he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2007.

by Amanda Patterson for Writers Write

Terry Pratchett, one of the only writers whose books I always buy in hardback. Paperbacks don’t last.

One of the nicest people I know.

bensimulator2012:

the best bit of homestuck

(via liz-of-all-ladybirds)

sarahreesbrennan:

cassandraclare:

I was happy to see Alec kicking the crap out of someone in the trailer. Openly gay characters should get to kick the crap out of bad guys in trailers more often.

Co-signed, but also, how excited am I to see Cassie’s movie in 2013! (A: SUPER EXCITED.)

life:

“I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art — and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.” - Marcel Duchamp

On this day in 1968, artist Marcel Duchamp dies. See more photos here.

(via jawbonejoe)

whatdiscworldtaughtme:

450. You can’t lose more than one life at a time. Even if you’re a cat.

dduane:

random-nexus:

tysolna:

madlori:

teachingliteracy:

amandaonwriting:

The Top 10 Writers Block Quotes

1. Writer’s block? I’ve heard of this. This is when a writer cannot write, yes? Then that person isn’t a writer anymore. I’m sorry, but the job is getting up in the fucking morning and writing for a living. ~Warren Ellis

2. I learned to produce whether I wanted to or not. It would be easy to say oh, I have writer’s block, oh, I have to wait for my muse. I don’t. Chain that muse to your desk and get the job done. ~Barbara Kingsolver

3. All writing is difficult. The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don’t get plumber’s block, and doctors don’t get doctor’s block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it? ~Philip Pullman

4. I’ve often said that there’s no such thing as writer’s block; the problem is idea block. When I find myself frozen–whether I’m working on a brief passage in a novel or brainstorming about an entire book–it’s usually because I’m trying to shoehorn an idea into the passage or story where it has no place. ~Jeffery Deaver

5. You can’t think yourself out of a writing block; you have to write yourself out of a thinking block. ~John Rogers

6. There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write. ~Terry Pratchett

7. I haven’t had trouble with writer’s block. I think it’s because my process involves writing very badly. My first drafts are filled with lurching, clichéd writing, outright flailing around. Writing that doesn’t have a good voice or any voice. But then there will be good moments. It seems writer’s block is often a dislike of writing badly and waiting for writing better to happen. ~Jennifer Egan

8.Writer’s block doesn’t exist…lack of imagination does. ~Cyrese Covelli

9. Writer’s Block is just an excuse by people who don’t write for not writing. ~Giando Sigurani 

10. Discipline allows magic. To be a writer is to be the very best of assassins. You do not sit down and write every day to force the Muse to show up. You get into the habit of writing every day so that when she shows up, you have the maximum chance of catching her, bashing her on the head, and squeezing every last drop out of that bitch. ~Lili St. Crow

I love all of these, but #7 was like, right between the eyes OMGYES.

For me it’s #6.

#10 gave me such a feral smile.  I may have to go commando on that sparklybritches biznatch of a Muse of mine.  This might just have to become srs bzns now.

I’d say Phil Pullman has hit it here. Writing is more like carpentry than anything else, IMO: or truck driving. And carpenters and truck drivers don’t wait to be inspired to build a bookshelf or drive a truck. They just do it.

impossible-astronauts:

source:  http://thealicegame.deviantart.com/art/old-clock-129944458

lamamama:

“But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything.”

- Charles Darwin, in a letter dated October 1, 1861 [x]

(via trexila)

(via bubstepremix)

(via entropic-introspection)

(via sleepless-academia-deactivated2)

themagicofreality:

Linus Pauling

(via sleepless-academia-deactivated2)