Tag / writing

by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 17 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

CRITIQUE OR CRITICISM?

How difficult is it to be a writer?

Strangely, no one ever asks that question. Because they either already know it’s very difficult, or because they think it’s easy.

Writing is easy. No, really, it is. You pick up a pen or a pencil or crayon or anything which will make a mark, you pick up something else which will show those marks… and you write. You can write whatever you like.

 Here’s a scenario, and see if you recognise it: you make a decision that you’re going to start writing. You write about a few things going on in your life. You may even put your opinions down on paper (electronic devices are available!). You might even construct a story – perhaps for a child, or for your own enjoyment, or a fictional piece of writing based on something that happened to you, or maybe is happening around you.

So far so good.

You’re happy with what you’re doing. You quite like this writing lark. Maybe even a family member looks at what you’ve written, and given you feedback of the “that’s really fantastic! Well done” kind.

You feel that maybe you’ve got this writing thing buttoned down, and you write more. Maybe you join an online group, or a real life group, and share your writing.

And you get a bad critique.

This is where writing gets tricky. Do you accept the critique? Because, when you’re a new writer, a critique of your writing is a criticism of you. This is your writing baby. How dare someone say nasty things about it?

At this point, your writing journey can go one of three ways:

  • You totally give up writing, vowing never to pick up a crayon again.
  • You take umbrage, and vow never to speak to that person again; you know you’re a good writer, because people have said so, and you’re going to continue your journey in the same way
  • You listen to the critique, you look at your writing, you accept that maybe other people are not so emotionally attached to it, and you learn from it.

You will probably guess that I’m advocating the latter. And I am, but only if your heart is in it. You are going to want to improve your writing.  It’s a tough lesson, and one which many of us have had to learn. When I started writing literary short fiction, I read some damning critiques of my work. But, do you know what? It improved my writing, and critiquing other writers improved my writing, too. But, as the leader of that group always said: critique the writing, don’t criticise the writer.

A CRITIQUE SHOULD NOT BE A CRITICISM.

Learn the difference, and react accordingly.

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 16 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

WHAT IS A FIRST DRAFT?

A first draft is a horrible thing.

The first draft of anything is sh*t.

Ernest Hemingway

Writing, and especially publishing, is filled with anachronistic terms and phrases. Like many industries, I’m sure people use out-of-date phrases in order to heighten the mystique. It might even be used to exclude those who haven’t been educated in the rarified atmospheres of ‘good’ universities. Might.

So, the “first draft.” As one person said to me once, it’s “telling yourself the story.” And in a way, they’re right. If you’re writing a novel, or even a short story, you don’t really know how it’s going to look until you’ve written it. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been writing a full-length novel, and then realised that there’s not enough ‘story’ in it to complete it, or that the story I had in my head isn’t what’s coming out in the manuscript. I’m my own harshest critic. 

So let’s say you’ve fought these inner demons and doubts caused by imposter syndrome, and you’ve finished the story. Brilliant! Send it off to be printed / entered into a competition?

Errr… NO!

Remember Hemingway’s statement, above. He knew a thing or two about writing did old Ernest. What you do is you put the story to one side – in a drawer, or closed off in a folder on your laptop. 

DON’T LOOK AT IT! 

What this does is to give you, the writer, ‘some distance’ from your writing. This is a fact – if you turn to edit a story too quickly, your mind sees what you think that you, the writer, should have written. Your mind ’sees’ the manuscript you wrote in your head, and not what you put on paper / in a file.

How long should I put the manuscript away?

It depends. In theory, the longer the better. I’ve come across old stories, written years ago, that I don’t even recognise as mine! But how long you put the manuscript away is entirely up to you, and how well you can ’step away’ from the writing, and what you intend to do with the story when it’s finished, and whether that has a deadline to it.

And my key message – when you start reviewing your first draft, BE HONEST! Read it like you would any other piece of writing.
Are there spelling and punctuation mistakes? Don’t assume an editor will fix them for you!
Does the opening spend too much time on description of landscapes or the weather?
Does the story move along at pace, or is it dreary and slow?
Does the key message of the story, the key theme, come through in the writing?
Does the ending round things up nicely, and provide a satisfying conclusion?

These are just some of the questions you need to ask yourself before moving forward with the story.

AND DON’T BE AFRAID TO DITCH THE STORY IF IT DOESN’T WORK.

I have done, MANY TIMES!

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 15 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

TECHNOLOGY – WHAT SHOULD I USE?

This is a strange question I often get asked, but in a way, it’s not strange.
“Which word processor do you use?”
or, the even more strange
“What laptop do you use?”
Why are they strange questions? 

Because it doesn’t matter. 

Let me explain. If you’re going to be a writer, you need some way in recording the words you’re using to tell your story. All agreed?

Writers, traditionally, LOVE a good notebook. I do, too – up to a point. But some people want to write poems and stories in their notebooks and keep them on a bookshelf. Which is great. I’m not knocking it. But the writing is then stuck, in pen / pencil / crayon on paper. Unless you show someone your notebook, you can’t easily share your work.

Some people like the kinetic feel of a typewriter. I love the *idea* of using a typewriter, but the thought of not being able to quickly and easily fix typos from my amateurish typing chills me to the bone.

If we’re moving into the age of modern technology, thee’s no doubt the rise of portable computing has changed much of our lives. You can write on a mobile phone (I know someone who won a competition using a story written on their phone, because they didn’t have a laptop.) There are tablets (such as iPads, Samsung Galaxy Tab and many low-cost imports from the far East), there are hundreds and hundreds of laptops around. Some (called Chromebooks, based on the Google Chrome browser) have little local storage, and are thus cheaper. I have a thing called an AlphaSmart, which is a mobile device, very low power, with a full-sized keyboard and tiny LCD display.

But no matter what other devices get recommended, I always come back to my beloved 2015 MacBook Pro. It was high-spec when I bought it (and expensive!), but it still works well enough.

So then we come to the perennial question: Do you use Mac or PC?

It’s one of those very binary questions which creates intense arguments at times. I was once called stupid for buying Mac. Buying one new now would cost in the region of £1,000 for a minimum spec model. A top spec version: over £4,000!

I treat my laptop as a tool of my job, and reliability is paramount, and in my opinion, worth paying a little extra for.

BUT

If you can’t afford or justify Apple’s eye-watering prices, there are other, good options. Brand new Chromebooks are less than £200. PC (Windows) laptops are similar in price. You can look out for special offers (especially at the start of school term); refurbished devices can have bargain basement prices. Always check on quantity and quality of feedback of supplier if you’re buying online. Also check Facebook marketplace, but beware if computers come without any documentation.

When it comes down to it, my 9 year-old laptop does the job I need it to. It helps me create my manuscripts (my 8th novel is coming out at the end of this month, and I have written seven non-fiction books for authors.) I do my own internal formatting and I create my own covers with some quite sophisticated graphics software. It doesn’t run ALL of the latest software, it doesn’t work from battery alone, and the processor overheats when I render video files. But it does everything I need it to, and if I needed to replace it in an emergency (having backed up my data, obviously) I could buy a refurbished MacBook air for £200.

So…

Don’t focus on the technology; focus on the writing.

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 14 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

BACKING UP YOUR DATA (PART TWO)

This is the only subject I’ll write about which has multiple parts – it’s that important. For the first part, check here: https://gerald-hornsby.com/blog/2024/06/09/day-7-monthofblogging-june2024-monthofwriting/ – where I went through some of the potential disasters that might happen which would cause loss of your data (your story files).

So, if you accept that there is a risk, what can you do? These dangers can be reduced, of course, but if one of them does happen, can we minimise its effect?

YES!

We’ll start at one end of the process, when we’re creating our data files which hold our story’s text. And today’s tip is a very simple one – and it comes from a place of horrible experience.

After every hour or two, working on a manuscript, I will not simply save the file. Saving and saving and saving means the only file you have is being overwritten. So I use the “Save As…” option in Scrivener, to save my file under a different filename.

For instance, my first file, when I begin writing, might be:

manuscript-2024-001.scriv

Then, after working for a couple of hours, I’ll save it as:

manuscript-2024-002.scriv

Different filename, different file.
Next morning, before I start, I’ll save the working file to a new filename:

manuscript-2024-003.scriv

All of this means that, at the worst, I might lose a few hours of work if a file goes bad, or for some reason it disappears from my computer (not that one ever has, but you never know).

Is this THAT important? How much is your work worth? 

Say, you’ve written 100,000 words at around 250 words an hour (an optimistic guess which includes planning time and staring out of the window time). That’s 400 hours work, MINIMUM. At a minimum wage (the current UK living wage is £11.44 / hr) , that’s £4,576. It’s more likely to be double that or more for a completed manuscript. And yet, you mean to tell me, you only have ONE COPY of that in the whole wide world? Thousands of pounds-worth of your hard work?

That’s not very clever.

“But Gerald,” you might say, “doing all this backup stuff is rather a lot of work, isn’t it? And doesn’t it take up valuable disk space?”

Answer: No, and No.

1. It takes around 5 seconds, maybe less, to save your work under a new filename. Is safeguarding your work worth five seconds a day? Is your time so valuable you can’t afford five seconds?

2. A 50,000 word manuscript, with planning and research and ideas and so on takes up around one megabyte of disk space. You can have 1,000 versions of this to take up one gigabyte. Many laptops now have terabytes of disk space. If you’re really worried, you can delete the older versions of the files, if you so wish.

The last project I worked on included a lot of screenshots, and had a larger file size, ending up at around 20MB. My laptop (bought in 2015) has 500GB of storage space on it. It currently has 47GB of free space. Even with less than 10% space left, I could fit 2,700 versions of this Scrivener file on it, and still have free space.

Seriously, though – having incremental file names is the best way of ensuring that if the worst happens and you lose your working file, you can go back to a previous version which is, at most, a day old.

Part three will be coming along later in the month.

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 13 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

PACING

Do you remember that song by Bucks Fizz called “Making Your Mind up”? For American readers, Bucks Fizz was a British bubblegum pop band in the early 1980s, and they performed “Making Your Mind Up” at the Eurovision Song Contest.

For American readers, the Eurovision Song Contest was … well, never mind. 

Anyway, part of the lyric was “You gotta speed it up / And then you gotta slow it down …” And it was as if they were creating a guide to writing pace. With a hip wiggle. So, from the master poets of Bucks Fizz and their songwriters, what can we learn, other than fat old men in their 60s look ridiculous doing a hip wiggle?

We can learn that pacing is important, and that sometimes, you need to use longer, more languid sentences to allow the reader to catch their breath. Sometimes you need shorter sentences. Short sentences ramp up tension, get the reader’s heart racing, get them to rush through the words in order to discover the story. So here’s a tip: speed it up, then slow it down, then speed it up again. Just for fun!

Why is this important?

Look at these sentences (from Gary Provost):

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.

Now read this:

Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals—sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

Pacing is also important from a wider perspective, especially when writing a novel. Imagine reading a book which starts with an explosion, continues through a car chase, then a gun battle, then a fight scene in a dungeon, then another explosion, then another car chase…

Crazy, huh? I feel exhausted just reading the description.

In every longer story, you need highs and lows, action and introspection, loud chapters and quiet. Which is why I use the Save The Cat plot design in my novels. https://savethecat.com/ It guides the storytelling process, through those changes in pace in thousands of novels (including all of mine!), plays and films.

It helps you include turning and plot points in your novel, it includes the All Is Lost and Dark Night of the Soul moments. It gives the story a rhythm and a sequence, which has been proven to be a winner amongst readers and viewers time and time again. I can fully recommend it!

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 12 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

DON’T WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW

Unfortunately, the writing world is full of so-called rules. Often they are attributed to famous authors, when they are nothing of the sort. For example, you can often see “J.K.Rowling’s Rules For Writing” appearing on the internet, even though she has flatly denied EVER talking about rules.

One of the great writing adages is: “write what you know.”

I can understand why people say that. As an author, you don’t want readers picking over your stories, telling you things that you’ve got factually incorrect. That’s not a good look.

Additionally, there is a danger of being accused of cultural appropriation, writing from the point of view of someone you don’t represent. Some clarification: you can write about characters and situations which don’t directly affect you, the writer; however, the writer should be careful when attempting to write from the point of view of someone who they don’t represent.

Here’s an anecdote: I’ve always tried to write inclusive characters in my stories. Characters who aren’t me. I love writing characters who have some of the same character traits as me, and readers will sometimes point to one of them and say “that’s you, isn’t it?”

I include many female characters in my stories. I’m not a female. So I don’t “know” what being female is like. This was brought into stark view when I started a psychological thriller – a woman in jeopardy story. I thought it was going well for the first couple of chapters, but then I offered it up for critique. And the feedback? “It didn’t work”, “I didn’t feel the jeopardy”, and worst of all “I could tell it was written by a man.”

Ouch.

And that, for me, is the clear distinction between writing about a character and writing as a character. That book has been shelved, by the way.

Now, having got all of that out of the way, what’s wrong with writing what you know?

If that rule was true, there would be no futuristic sci-fi. Nobody knows what’s going to happen ten, twenty, a hundred years hence.

If that rule was true, I’d always be writing about working class pensioners who spent a life in engineering, and have now retired.

If that rule was true, I’d always be writing cycling stories, stories about watching TV crime dramas, and stories about red wine.

So I’m going to offer up a different “rule”:

ONLY WRITE WHAT YOU UNDERSTAND

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 11 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

THE BEST ART IS CREATED BY THOSE BEST RESTED

That’s an interesting quote, and like many writers, I’m happy to quote it, because I wrote it!

I used to quote something else: “I can get all the sleep I want when I die.”

Yeah. Typical macho nonsense. I apologise.

And although, arguably, I still don’t get enough sleep, I don’t do that deliberately under some deluded male invincibility. But I seem to require less sleep than I used to. And yes, if I get really sleep-deprived, I’m lucky enough to be able to take an afternoon nap or fall asleep in front of the TV.

So, what do we mean by “rest”? For me, that comes in two forms:

1) a rest from writing, in that we do something else – not for a short period to reduce stress and chaos, but for a day or two or slightly longer. Too long can be detrimental, but I’ve found a day or two works best.

2) a bodily rest. Now, you might think that our bodies don’t need much rest after sitting and writing, but I’m thinking particularly of the tops of our bodies – our brains. A healthy life depends on a complex mix of nutrition, exercise and sleep!

There have been many studies of the performance of creatives being impaired by lack of sleep. When we sleep, our brains spend time organising thoughts and ideas into some sense of order – so when you wake up, your mind is clear and settled. Our brains form new neural connections. Sleep spindles, a type of brain activity recorded during stage two of sleep, has repeatedly been associated with improving brain plasticity and consolidating memory.

Lack of sleep can cause writers’ block, an inability to organise logically – and it also affects our memory. Our vocabulary contracts, and our word choice becomes tortuous and over-simplistic. Don’t ask me how I know!

I have found, personally, that my ability to write new words is much better when I’m well-rested. I have also found that I write better in the morning. Quite often (if I wake up early enough!) I can have an extremely productive hour or so in the quiet of the early mornings. My creative ability drops off considerably during the afternoon and I can’t work (on creative writing projects) much beyond 4pm. 

Additional detrimental effects of lack of sleep include weight gain and depression – both can curtail creativity.

Tips for better sleep
These are common sense, but sometimes we need to see things written down before they take hold in our minds.
1. Time your caffeine intake. Yes, obviously, but try to restrict your caffeine intake (including ‘normal’ tea!) after lunchtime.
2. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule. Our bodies work best with regular schedules, so try to use regular sleep / wake times as much as you can.
3. Avoid sugar and alcohol in the evening. Sugar for obvious purposes, but try to stop having alcohol within 2 hours of sleep. No nightcaps!
4. Blue light. The light from laptop screens and mobile phones has been proven to stimulate our brains, and thus might stop us from dropping off to sleep.

There is the added advantage that many ideas for stories have come to me in a dream. There are examples from more famous writers: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Shelly’s Frankenstein, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, and even Paul McCartney’s Beatles song, Yesterday all came to them following dreams.

Remember: a couple of hours of good, calm sleep can give you a whole day of improved creativity.

(That’s another one of mine. You’re welcome.)

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 10 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

TAKING A BREATH

One development in society recently has been the opening up of the debate on mental health, and wellness.  The days of “stiff upper lip” and “just get on with it” are now cast into the bin, hopefully never to return. And no matter your position on diversity and “woke”, there can be no doubt that we, as humans interacting with other humans, can improve our lives by caring a little more – for ourselves, and others,

So what’s all this got to do with writing?

Because writing is hard. Scribbling words on a piece of paper is straightforward, but composing a structured and cohesive piece of writing, maybe for others to enjoy, can be a stressful and frustrating thing. 

The first thing to do is to recognise when adverse thoughts and feelings are coming into your head. My most difficult time is when I have conflicting priorities and deadlines to juggle. Project A needs to be done before tomorrow, but Project B needs to be done tonight. And, by the way, Project C has just popped up and needs attention NOW! I can get very tetchy in this situation.

Managing these situations, for me, involves stepping back slightly. One thing I try to do is perform a MVP analysis. No, not Most Value Player, but Minimum Viable Product. What is the absolute MINIMUM I need to do on each of the conflicting projects. I am quite practical, and ignore people phoning up and being angry, but consider what is the EFFECT of timescale slippage. I quite often end up realising that the self-imposed pressure can be eased, and I can focus more and move forward.

But by far the best thing?

I remove myself from the situation. I’m lucky in that I have several pleasant walks around where I live, and I find that by talking a walk the whirling soon slows down, and I can view the projects with clarity and common sense, instead of the chaos I was experiencing.

I get fresh air into my lungs, breathing deeply and slowly, and holding the breaths. I find the 4-7-8 count suits me: inhale for a count of 4; hold for a count of 7; exhale for a count of 8.

Benefits of deep breathing:
* lowered blood pressure and heart rate.
* reduced levels of stress hormones in the blood.
* reduced lactic acid build-up in muscle tissue.
* balanced levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood.
* improved immune system functioning.
* increased physical energy.
* increased feelings of calm and wellbeing.

Here are some more great tips:
https://orderyourlife.com/blogs/blog/5-quick-and-easy-ways-to-reduce-stress

The main points in order – breathe, rest, exercise, soclialise, disconnect.

And a quote from Seneca, the Spanish-born, Roman philosopher:
“We must go for walks out of doors, so that the mind can be strengthened and invigorated by a clear sky and plenty of fresh air.”

Wise words

Giving it a break, taking a breath, going for a walk, change of scene helps

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 9 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

MUSIC TO WRITE TO (OR NOT)

Some of the most frequent questions I see and hear in writing groups concerns the process of writing. I’m going to talk about the technology we use when writing, and why, in a later post. But one subject which interests me is “musical accompaniment.”

Let me explain. I am very easily distracted. It’s part of who I am, that I can’t sit in one place, doing one thing, for more than 15-20 minutes. (This doesn’t include driving, by the way, in case you were wondering!) Part of my problem is that I write in a wooden hut in a country park (sort of). There is a track going past my window.

During the day, there are cars going past, tractors and vans; people walking; wildlife (birds, ducks, geese – no wildebeest or unicorns). So I often have something flashing by just out of my field of view.

Sounds, too, infiltrate my writing space. The aforementioned cars, vans, birds, etc, but also voices, and planes and helicopters flying over head.

WHAT AM I TO DO?

Headphones. I used to use cheap headphones which cracked and were uncomfortable; then I used some birthday money to buy some excellent headphones – comfortable, high quality. Only one problem – they were connected to my computer with a piece of wire. OH NO! (First world problems, I know).

These days, I have both over-the-ear and in-ear sound devices, and both are wireless. No pulling things off the desk when I forget I’m wearing them. No having to stop what I’m listening to if I step away from the desk for a moment or two.

So why are they so important? 

Because they stop me from being distracted. The sounds coming into my ears cut me off from what’s happening around me, and help me focus on my writing. And, weirdly, there doesn’t even need to be sound coming through them. Many’s the time I’ve been writing and not realised that the sounds in my wears stopped many minutes before.

One added benefit of using ‘obvious’ headphones is that it signals to those around me that I am not to be disturbed!

Given that I like audio accompaniment, what do I listen to? And like many simple questions, the answer is complicated. Generally, if I’m drafting or planning or plotting my fiction, it must be something without words. No discussions, no YouTube videos in the background, and no music with lyrics. Words in my ear become words on the page, or get tangled up together in one big literary mess.

What kind of music is ‘“best”?

Ha! It depends on what you like. Don’t listen to something you hate, obviously. Choose something you like to listen to, but not concentrate on. No deep story-driven country songs, or angry rap. I quite like modern dance music, so for me what works best is trance, progressive rock, melodic house or techno. Chillstep was a recommendation from a NaNoWriMo << https://nanowrimo.org/ >> forum. Pretty much anything with “chill” in the genre title suits me.

The best thing to do is try listening to a wide variety of music and sounds, and see which suits you better!

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by Gerald Hornsby

DAY 8 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting

ARE YOU A QUITTER?

Everyone who isn’t a writer thinks writing is easy. Most people can string words together, in a note for a family member or an informative message in a Christmas card. I’m not decrying the initial thoughts and ideas of fledgling writers, but there is a misconception that the step from writing a page of notes to creating a story or even writing a novel… well, it can’t be too hard, can it? It’s just like what I do, and have done – only more so.

Even those who enjoyed (as I did) writing stories at school might think that an A* mark at 15 is the signpost to literary success.

I know, I’m sounding somewhat arrogant and haughty. But as someone who has written eight novels (seven already published) and three collections of short fiction <<  https://gerald-hornsby.com/fiction-books/ >> and seven non-fiction books << https://gerald-hornsby.com/non-fiction-books/  >> I do understand how much work goes into the transition from ‘wanting to write’ to ‘being a writer’.

Don’t get me wrong – the rewards can be amazing. Not so much in the financial department (except for the very, very few) but in the sheer enjoyment you can get from telling stories.

I always say, in my workshops and courses, I consider there are several levels of ‘reward’ I have received in my career:

1) The first time someone says “I enjoyed reading your story”

2) The first time someone says: “that story was great – you can really write” (thank you, Tim)

3) The first time someone uses their hard-earned money to BUY one of your pieces of writing (I can’t remember who that was – sorry, but thank you)

4) The first time someone buys one of your books, and then says “I enjoyed that book so much, I immediately bought the others in the series” (thank you Simon and Derek, and others)

Note: none of these involved “my first million dollars” or “the sports car I bought with my first royalty cheque”. But, to me, these are worth far, far more than just money. 

And through my efforts ovr more than 20 years, I have been able to become a “full time author”. I don’t make enough money from royalties, even from seventeen published books (my marketing isn’t the best it could be). But having written eighteen books, it gives me the credibility and authenticity to be able to write articles, conduct workshops and courses, and build an income from the accumulation of several income streams.

But all of this… ALL OF IT… has come through hard work, and not giving up. 

Giving up, and saying “I wish…” is the easiest thing in the world. I will leave you with a great quote from Richard Bach (author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970): “A professional author is an amateur who didn’t quit.” 

And to finish –  there are a ton of author quotes on the internet, because no one enjoys being quoted more than a writer! Here are a couple of my favourites: 

“There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.” – Terry Pratchett

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” – Isaac Asimov

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