“Write hard and clear about what hurts.”

“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do.”

William Zinsser (1922–2015) writer, editor, journalist, literary critic, professor

“The two things I enjoy the most about writing are the first page of a book and the last. What's in between is very hard work.”

Rachel Gibson (1961) American writer

“We write songs about wrong cause its hard to see right”

Common (rapper) (1972) American rapper, actor and author from Illinois

“If you do not remember while you are writing, it may seem confused to others but actually it is clear and eventually that clarity will be clear, that is what a master-piece is, but if you remember while you are writing it will seem clear at the time to any one but the clarity will go out of it that is what a master-piece is not.”

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays

“Life is so damned hard, so damned hard… It just hurts people and hurts people, until finally it hurts them so that they can't be hurt ever any more. That's the last and worst thing it does.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Beautiful and Damned

“As a mom, I can't imagine how hard it would be to hear hurtful, untrue things being said about my daughters.”

Denise Richards (1971) American actress and model

“Writing about the unholy is one way of writing about what is sacred.”

Clive Barker (1952) author, film director and visual artist

“There's a difference between writing for a living and writing for
life. If you write for a living, you make enormous compromises….
If you write for life, you'll work hard; you'll do what's honest,
not what pays”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer