The mystique and the false glamour of the writing profession grow partly out of a mistaken belief that people who can express profound ideas and emotions have ideas and emotions more profound than the rest of us. It isn't so. The ability to express is a special gift with a special craft to support it and is spread fairly equally among the profound, the shallow, and the mediocre.
Janet BurrowayThe only justification for writing a novel is that it should be wonderful. Adequate is inadequate.
Janet BurrowayIn literature only trouble is interesting. It takes trouble to turn the great themes of life into a story: birth, love, sex, work, and death.
Janet BurrowayMost writing is done between the mind and the hand, not between the hand and the page.
Janet BurrowayRight now-whether you're in writing courses getting "paid" in credit for writing, or burdened and distracted by earning a living and changing diapers-figure out how to make writing an integral part of your life. Publication is good, and gives you the courage to go on, but publication is not as important as the act of writing.
Janet Burroway