5 for Friday: 4 Favorite Quotes and a Story

As I wrap up my time as MFA Confidential, I wanted to focus
on my most favorite writing quotes for this installment of 5 for Friday. These
are the good ones, those ones you tape on your mirror or desk, or scrawl on a slip
of paper and place in front of you as you work. I’ve also included a “story” by
Brian Andreas. I posted it once before, way back in September. It remains one
of my favorite quotes/stories about writing and life. Find more of Brian
Andreas’ inspiring stories and drawings here. Happy Friday, All! I’ll see you
next week for my final few posts.

“You
must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

~Ray
Bradbury

*

And by
the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to
do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is
self-doubt.

~Sylvia
Plath

*

“If we
had to say what writing is, we would define it essentially as an act of
courage.”

-Cynthia
Ozick

*

“Write
in recollection and amazement for yourself.”

-Jack
Kerouac

*

And a
story by artist and storyteller Brian Andreas:

Nothing
More

“Often, I write all day long with white
ink

on white paper, late into the night, until it

is all I can do to feel the letters curving to

earth from the tip of the pen &
then, I fall

asleep. Dreaming of running, or maybe

driving in a car the color of water & I
wake

the next day remembering nothing & I

gather the stack of paper & a pen of
black

on the desk in front of me & the words

begin to dance over the page like long

legged insects across a still lake & the

words in white whisper behind &

underneath the new day. If there is any

secret to this life I live, this is it:
the sound

of what cannot be seen sings within

everything that can. & there is
nothing

more to it than that.”

-Brian Andreas