Happy NaPo- and NaNoing!

Well, my dear readers, today is April 1st, which means—oh, yes April Fool’s day, but two other (far more important) events: the start of NaPoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo. If you don’t know what those are, check out this post.

To start all you lovely writers off on the right foot, here are some wonderful writing quotes (and if you want more, check out my Get Inspired NaNoWriMo post from November). Enjoy!

Po’try is nothin’ but Truth anyway, and it’s Truth was sets us free.

~ Joseph Leonidas Star

To write well, express youself like common people, but think like a wise man. Or, think as wise men do, but speak as the common people do.

~ Aristotle

This is the age of science, of steel—of speed and the cement road. The age of hard faces and hard highways. Science and steel demand the medium of prose. Speed requires only the looks—the gesture. What need then, for poetry?

Great need!

There are souls, in those noise-tired times, that turn aside into unfrequented lanes, where the deep woods have harbored the fragrances of many a blossoming season. Here the light, filtering through perfect forms, arranges itself in lovely patterns for those who perceive beauty …

~ Roy J. Cook

When Leonardo da Vinci had painted his immortal “Last Supper,” he asked a friend for an evaluation. The friend heaped superlatives on the masterpiece and espeically praised the wine cup by the Lord’s hand. At that point, Leonardo blotted out the cup.

“Nothing,” he was said to have answered, “should distract one’s attention from the Lord.”

~ Author unknown

This one was about a painting, but the idea is the same for writing—nothing we write should distract reader’s attention from the Lord. It should point to Him, never away.

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for the Creator, there is no poverty.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.

~ Thomas Gray

I want to write because I have the urge to excel in one medium of translation and expression of life. I can’t be satisfied with the colossal job of merely living. Oh, no, I must order life in sonnets and sestinas and provide a verbal reflector for my 60-watt lighted head.

~ Sylvia Plath

Why does one begin to write? Because she feels misunderstood, I guess. Because it never comes out clearly enough when she tries to speak. Because she wants to rephrase the world, to take it in and give it back again differently, so that everything is used and nothing is lost. Because it’s something to do to pass the time until she is old enough to experience the things she writes about.

~ Nicole Krauss

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.

~ Jessamyn West

Be brave this month, writers.