Tag: Ray Bradbury

Tomorrow’s Reading: Zen in the Art of Writing

Lynn
Zen in the Art of Writing - Ray Bradbury

Just today, I told myself I needed to make more of an effort to read more fiction every week, but there’ll probably be no fiction reading tonight or tomorrow. I received the book I ordered, Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury.

I ordered this once and Amazon told me there’d been a problem with delivery, could I wait another 8 weeks for it? I said no, so I cancelled the order. Then a few days ago I noticed the book was available again and eligible for 2 day shipping so I reordered it. Got it today!

I’m very much looking forward to reading it. Can’t do it today because I have a lot of writing to do! :D

Ray Bradbury Quote About the Necessity of Quantity

Lynn

“WD: You’re terribly prolific, but a lot of writers produce one book in a lifetime. Would you advise young writers to spend all their time polishing one piece or to go for quantity?

BRADBURY: It simply follows that quantity produces quality. Only if you do a lot will you ever be any good. If you do very little, you’ll never have quality of idea or quality of output. The excitement and creativity comes from a whole lot of doing; hoping you’ll suddenly be struck by lightning. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed. The history of literature is the history of prolific people. I always say to students, give me four pages a day, every day. That’s three or four hundred thousand words a year. Most of that will be bilge, but the rest … It will save your life!”

I came across this quote used in Quantity Produces Quality – A NaNoWriMo Post. The interview excerpt is from a February 1976 Writer’s Digest interview with science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury.