Chris Baty Quotes

#1. The quickest, easiest way to produce something beautiful and lasting is to risk making something horribly crappy.

Chris Baty

#2. When your novel first peeks its head into the world, it will look pretty much like every newborn: blotchy, hairless, and utterly confused.

Chris Baty

#3. There is only one way to success and that is love. Love what you want to do, it will be done.

Debasish Mridha

#4. Rereading parts of your novel while writing is like doubling back at rerunning parts of a marathon midrace.

Chris Baty

#5. ... Jo valued the letter more than the money, because it was encouraging, and after years of effort it was so pleasant to find that she had learned to do something ...

Louisa May Alcott

#6. How much there is to suffer. When was time enough
to pay attention to our lighter emotions?
And still I recognize, better than most others
who will be resurrected, what blessedness is.

Rainer Maria Rilke

#7. fiction writing can be a blast when you set aside debilitating notions of perfection and just dive headlong into the creative process.

Chris Baty

#8. So long as man remains no real threat to the Enemy, Satan's line to him is 'You're fine'. But after you do take sides, it becomes 'Your heart is bad and you know it'.

John Eldredge

#9. here's the thing: However attractive the idea of a writer's retreat may sound, having all day to poke around on a novel actually hampers productivity.

Chris Baty

#10. ...from this day on, whenever he sought to master a woman, whether by threat or strength or even with a look, the fear would flare and overtake him -- so wild and sudden it would drop him to his knees to cower in terror, gibbering for solace from his distant, punishing god.

Laini Taylor

#11. If you have a million things to do, adding item number 1,000,001 is not such a big deal. When, on the other hand, you have nothing to do, getting out of bed and washing yourself before 2:00 P.M. feels like too much work to even contemplate.

Chris Baty

#12. A deadline is, simply put, optimism in its most kick-ass form. It's a potent force that, when wielded with respect, will level any obstacle in its path. This is especially true when it comes to creative pursuits.

Chris Baty

#13. The eye is the most refined of our senses, the one which communicates most directly with our mind, our consciousness.

Robert Delaunay

#14. There's a book in you that only you can write.

Chris Baty

#15. Don't be offended if you encounter some good-natured ribbing; the idea of
writing a novel in a month deserves to be laughed at.

Chris Baty

#16. Today's tangents will become tomorrow's arcs, and unforeseen connections will tie up your loose ends in a way that will make you want to slap your head and holler at your accidental brilliance.

Chris Baty

#17. When you're on stage with an audience, the director's nowhere to be seen. He's onto the next job.

Ian McKellen

#18. There's an old folk saying that goes: whenever you delete a sentence from your NaNoWriMo novel, a NaNoWriMo angel loses its wings and plummets, screaming, to the ground. Where it will likely require medical attention.

Chris Baty

#19. The tarps Ken Weinrich's crew used has yellow and royal blue stripes, not unlike those for a circus, and this had lent a festive yet undignified mood to the proceedings.

Curtis Sittenfeld

#20. The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It's the lack of a deadline. Give someone an enormous task, a supportive community, and a friendly-yet-firm due date, and miracles will happen.

Chris Baty

#21. I'm not stupid, but I'm getting there.

Chuck Palahniuk

#22. Ship," he said absently. "A boat is something you haul aboard a ship.

Sara Paretsky

#23. The world is a lot more fun when you approach it with an exuberant imperfection.

Chris Baty

#24. You are doing this because you are fantastic and brave and curious. And, yes, you are probably a little crazy. And this is a good thing.

Chris Baty

#25. If you spend enough time with your characters, plot simply happens.

Chris Baty

#26. You might say that I was a sort of modern-day Robin Hood, merrily stealing from the rich. Only I never, ever gave my loot away for free.

Jennifer Estep

#27. James II's second wife, an Italian Catholic princess called Mary (at the time, there was an edict whereby all female royals were to be called Mary to confuse future readers of history books),

Stephen Clarke

#28. The roar of adrenaline drowned out the self-critical voices that tend to make creative play such work for adults.

Chris Baty

#29. Just think of the acclaim! The feelings of satisfaction! The vastly increased dating opportunities!

Chris Baty

#30. My grandfather taught me that it is harder to be kind than it is to be clever.

Jeff Bezos

#31. IF THERE IS A GOD, GOD IS DISJUNCTION AND MADNESS.

Kathy Acker

#32. A novel rough draft is like bread dough; you need to beat the crap out of it for it to rise.

Chris Baty

#33. Instead, we spent our downtime prodding at lifeless characters and wondering how long a human body could subsist on a diet of ramen and Coke before liver function ceased entirely.

Chris Baty

#34. Despite what you may have learned last month, sustained writing is best accomplished as part of a balanced lifestyle, one that includes things like grocery shopping and speaking in complete sentences with your significant other. No

Chris Baty