What a great habit! LOVE that Joan of Arc quote….

“Writing is thinking on paper.” I totally agree. And much of the time it’s thinking the thoughts of the characters you’re writing about. What’s especially interesting is that often they don’t tell you all about themselves. You have to be content with the thoughts they share with you.

Thanks, Per. You raise a really interesting point about the Bradbury quote. You’re quite right that burning books has the terrible downside of preventing others from reading them. (But it may have the upside of giving those books so much publicity that more people actually read them!)

I particularly like #14, too.

Once again thank you for your newsletter, it allways makes one think. Now this time about the quotes which also make one think, all of them – even if one doesn’t agree.

Bradbury … I don’t agree, really. Burning books are definitely worse than not reading – burning books means actively preventing others from reading too. Not only you’re a nothing yourself, you’re also imposing your nonentity on others.

Stephen King on the other side, about talent and hard work, hits the nail. Somewhere I have an essay by Malcolm Gladwell about the myth of talent, probably from The New Yorker, which really scared me (“The Talent Myth”, I just found it via Google) – he argues that talented people not only are predestined losers but also dangerous ones. And most of us have seen talented writers pour themselves down the drain by waiting for ideal conditions under which to work, as E. B. White states.

I think quote No. 14 is the one for me: Do not wait to strike till the irons is hot; but make it hot by striking. (Yeats) I’ll put that one into my own quote-list om omatskrive.dk – thank you!

I wasn’t clear. I will listen to the Digest as a prelude to reading the NYT. Self-reflection isn’t as frequent as it could/should be, as you indicate.

You’re very welcome!

I hem and haw over this one. The NY Times is such a great paper and I learn so much reading it, as I’m sure you do by listening to it. But what are we losing by not having more time for self-reflection or even just daydreaming?

Yes, I also like the way the quote emphasizes the ephemerality of writing — i.e.: it’s something you can change/revise, later.