Writing "out of Your Skin"

Writers on Writing

Thoughts along the writing journey: Writing "in the Zone"

A collection of writing thoughts and quotes from famous and not-so famous writers to hopefully encourage, uplift and perhaps even “inspire” you down the writing path.

One cannot always tell what it is that keeps us shut in, confines us, seems to bury us, but still one feels certain barriers, certain gates, certain walls. is all this imagination, fantasy? I do not think so. And then one asks: My God! Is it for long, is it forever, is it for eternity? Do you know what frees one from this captivity? It is very deep serious affection. Being friends, being brothers, love, that is what opens the prison by supreme power, by some magic force.”
- Vincent Van Goch, letter to his brother, July 1880 (from Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi)

“Suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was kind of driving by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. I was way over the limit; but still I was able to find even more. It frightened me, because I realised I was well beyond my conscious understanding.”
- the late, great Ayrton Senna (at the Monaco Grand Prix 1988)

Writers, like racing drivers, challenge themselves and their readers in new ways, They find new niches. I want to continually test my own writing “limits”, the “boundaries of my imagination.”

Albert Einstein famously said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

“Art is at the highest reach of one’s creative imagination.”

“Your only limits are your own imagination.”
“Talent develops in tranquillity, character in the full current of human life.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Leonardo da Vinci once said: “Art is never finished, only abandoned.”

"All the world will be happier and better, when men and women have the souls of artists, like that of an Ayrton Senna."
- craig (as inspired by Rodin's famous words)

from “Driving (and writing) out of your skin

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Writing in the Zone: Thoughts on the Writing Journey

“artty-farty/ airey-fairey writer type meets rough handed petrol-head”

“When this happens it’s the best feeling a driver* can have.”
* or writer

“When you’re writing there are times when you feel it’s a bit of a struggle. However, at other times you’re in what is called ‘the Zone’ and writing just feels effortless. This happens when finding the right words is no longer a struggle; but this heightened state, as with most crafts usually comes with practice. Then words simply flow into your head faster than you can write them down (or can press the keyboard). But you have to really push your writing limits to get this kind of experience. “
Then later you look what you’ve written and think: “Bloody hell. That’s good. Did I really write that seemingly without much effort? Wonder where all that came from (a cerebral thing or “outer space?)”!”
- A “nony-moose” writer

“I’d like to tell you how wonderful I am. I’m an excellent writer. I’ve won too many awards to list. I’ve sold a bunch of books. I can do 10 push-ups without a break, and while I can’t run a four-minute mile, I can drive it in about a minute and a half…”

“Life is far too important (a subject) to be taken too seriously”

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

― Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

"Driven to share, uplift, encourage and (perhaps even) inspire"