2010! Bring it on!

I love New Years. OK, I love most holidays, but this one deals with reflecting on the past and looking forward to a (possible) new beginning, of making new promises and setting new goals and with renewed hope of meeting them. It's an exciting time for an unpublished writer looking forward to much success in 2010. I thought of sharing my goals and aspirations specifically but instead wanted to share the words of some best selling authors (an eclectic bunch to be sure), that have really resonated with me as I think about the coming year and what I want to accomplish. Enjoy!

"My advice is not to wait to be struck by an idea. If you're a writer, you sit down and damn well decide to have an idea. That's the way to get an idea." Andy Rooney

"Don't quit. It's very easy to quit during the first 10 years. Nobody cares whether you write or not, and it's very hard to write when nobody cares one way or the other. You can't get fired if you don't write, and most of the time you don't get rewarded if you do. But don't quit."  Andre Dubus

"You have to follow your own voice. You have to be yourself when you write. In effect, you have to announce, "This is me, this is what I stand for, this is what you get when you read me. I'm doing the best I can - buy me or not - but this is who I am as a writer."" David Morrell

"A genuine creation should have character as well as be one; should have central heating, so to say, as well as exterior lighting." James Hilton

"Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts." Larry King

"A best-selling book usually follows a simple rule, 'It's a wonderful story, wonderfully told'; not, 'It's a wonderfully told story.'" Nicholas Sparks

"You have to have the three D's: drive, discipline and desire. If you're missing one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it's going to be really hard to get anything done." Nora Roberts

"I don't believe one reads to escape reality. A person reads to confirm a reality he knows is there, but which he has not experienced." Lawrence Durrell

"In truth, I never consider the audience for whom I'm writing. I just write what I want to write." J. K. Rowling

"I know what women want - and that's to be flung across a man's saddle, or into the long grass by a loving husband." Barbara Cartland

Happy New Year and here's wishing everyone much health, happiness and success in 2010! Bring it on!