"Putting pen to paper without first deciding the route and pace at which to scribe is like setting off on a bicycle without first checking the tyres."

Process, Writing, Preparation, Creativity, Planning

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"Putting pen to paper without first deciding the route and pace at which to scribe is like setting off on a bicycle without first checking the tyres."

Exlpore more Process quotes

"Now the writing in the head, I definitely do every day, thinking about how I want to phrase something or how I'd like to rephrase something I've already written."

Stanley Crouch, American Critic

Process, Day, Now, Thinking, Want

"He did not arrive at this conclusion by the decent process of quiet, logical deduction, nor yet by the blinding flash of glorious intuition, but by the shoddy, untidy process halfway between the two by which one usually gets to know things."

Margery Allingham, English Writer

Process, Intuition, Quiet

"I do not plan my fiction any more than I normally plan woodland walks; I follow the path that seems most promising at any given point, not some itinerary decided before entry."

John Fowles, English Novelist

Process, Creativity, Discovery, Freedom

"There are three secrets to writing a novel. Unfortunately nobody knows what they are."

W. Somerset Maugham, British Playwright

Process, Writing, Mystery, Creativity, Art

"If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient. [25 February 2010]"

Hilary Mantel, British Novelist

Process, Creativity, Patience, Rest, Insight

"It took three years to put Shakespeare's words together, there were a lot of words to be studied and a lot of words to be sorted out, and it proved to be a major project."

David Crystal, English Educator

Process, Project, Shakespeare, Words, Years

"The importance to the writer of first writing must be out of all proportion of the actual value of what is written."

Elizabeth Bowen, Irish Novelist

Process, First, Importance, Value, Writer

"You do everything by the book, like everybody else, you get the same results s everybody else."

Jim Butcher, American Author

Process, Routine, Conformity, Efficiency

"Ideally a painter (and, generally, an artist) should not become conscious of his insights: without taking the detour through his conscious reflection, his progressive steps, mysterious even to himself, should enter so swiftly into the work that he is unable to recognize them in the moment of transition."

Rainer Maria Rilke, German Poet

Process, Artist, Insight, Consciousness, Work

"But part of the enjoyment I take in it is finding the most efficient way to do it, which doesn't mean the corrections aren't made. I like to have a feeling of the whole task before I start, even if it changes."

Bruce Nauman, American Sculptor

Process, Enjoyment, Feeling

Explore more quotes by Fennel Hudson

"Seek a slower, simpler life."

Simplicity

"I'm likely to stay here, pen in hand, until dusk comes and my writing melts into the twilight."

Writing

"In with the new, out with the old.' That's what we're told. We have to change, adapt, compromise."

Change

"It's ironic that those who lack self-confidence are often the ones who find it hardest to say no."

Self

"Compromise is a choice. As is the defence of one's self."

Choice

"I am happiest sitting against a tree, with my notebook or sketchpad on my knee, capturing the moment."

Creativity

"We are all Clapping Monkeys, but while some of us smile, others look around to see if anyone has noticed."

Society

"There comes a time when you just have to say, "No! " to the requests and to the system."

Power

"Seek and see beauty in the watery world."

Nature

"Workdays are, I imagine, rather like learning to ice-skate Torvill and Dean's The Bolero. They start and end easily enough; it's the bit in the middle that causes the pain in the arse."

Work