"The Creative Process of Writing is a Liberating and Therapeutic Experience"
www.virtualwritingcoach.com
May, 2008
In This Issue:
1. Preview
2. Publisher's Note
3. On Writing
4. Helpful Hints
1. Preview
The Writer's Connection explores the creative process of writing and the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and actions.
We are an interactive community of authors and readers who share ideas to enhance our knowledge, skills, and experiences in
writing fiction in any genre, but our emphasis remains mystery and suspense thrillers.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers writing tips for authors, coaching suggestions, editing, and marketing information.
Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and represent only his ideas on producing your first manuscript,
and are provided to the general public. Because we are an interactive community of writers, other viewpoints are welcomed and may be
printed in future monthly newsletters with permission from Keith Barton.
2. Publisher's Note
May, 2008
Dear Writer's Connection Subscriber,
This month's newsletter features: On Writing
3. On Writing
People ask me what do the great writers think about writing. My answer is to look at what the great writers have to say,
from “On Writing” from
The Quotable Book Lover, edited by Ben Jacobs and Helena Hjalmarsson, MJF Books, 1999.
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
(Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904)
If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.
(Toni Morrison 1931- )
People who write fiction, if they had not taken it up, might have become very successful liars.
(Ernest Hemingway 1899-1961)
Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer
will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.
(Edward Albee, 1928- )
Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never
undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.
(George Orwell, 1903-1950)
Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit at a typewriter and open a vein.
(Walter Wellesley, 1905-1982)
Don’t ask a writer what he’s working on. It’s like asking someone with cancer about the progress of his disease.
(Jay McInerney, 1955- )
I think of an author as somebody who goes into the marketplace and puts down his rug and says “I will tell you a story,”
and then he passes the hat.
(Robertson Davies, 1913-1995)
It is the writer’s privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and
pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which has been the glory of his past.
(William Faulkner, 1897-1962)
In all my work what I try to say is that as human beings we are more alike than we are unalike.
(Maya Angelou, 1928- )
Writing is a kind of pain I can’t do without.
(Robert Penn Warren, 1905-1989)
When a writer becomes the center of attention, he has become a nudnick, and a nudnick who believes he is profound is even
worse than just a plain nudnick.
(Isaac Singer, 1904-1991)
Writers are people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they
could buy but do not like.
(Walter Benjamin, 1892-1940)
The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.
(John Steinbeck, 1902-1968)
Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.
(Salman Rushdie, 1947- )
I was brought up in the tradition of the late nineteenth century: that a writer never complains, never explains and never
disdains.
(James Michener, 1907-1997)
Often I think writing is a sheer paring away from oneself, leaving something always thinner, barer, more meager.
(F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940)
The reason so few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.
(Walter Bagehot, 1826-1877)
Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and are therefore most economical in its use.
(Mark Twain, 1835-1910)
To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.
(Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.)
Helpful Hints:
- Read one of the above authors’ books and understand why they are great writers.
- Would you agree that our greatest writers were born in the twentieth century? Or would you say
that they are yet to be born?
- Who is you favorite author and why? Why do the really good books stand the test of time?
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The Writer's Connection SMMission:
The Writer's Connection
SMis dedicated to helping first-time authors create their first
manuscript for publication and to offer an exchange of ideas and opinions from our readers who might be
interested in becoming authors.
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About Keith Barton, Ph.D.
Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist
for over thirty years. He is currently enrolled in MentorCoach and is accepting new clients.
He has been an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina,
consultant to Fortune 500 companies in executive development, founded
and managed Texas Community Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing
group home services to persons with mental retardation. Keith founded
and has been running a clinical practice in Northwest Houston since 1990.
He writes part-time with the goal of completing one novel a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate
interest in helping others become attuned to their creative powers of storytelling.
Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family therapy and health psychology. He has published articles, made
presentations and conducted workshops about:
Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self-esteem
Communication skills
Marital/relationship enrichment
Wellness issues
The relationship between psychology and spirituality
