Write Dumb Quotes

“When you have order, you want to create chaos, and when you have chaos, you want to create order.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Consider the power of one word alone. A single magical word can not only change something’s meaning, it can convince someone to change how they think.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Consider that words are of the supernatural sort, other- worldly, yet not; gifted to us by some divine spirit, maybe; ever-changing, not ours, simply floating in us and around us, shaping our world and each other, but still shaped by our own innate, internal passions and energy — our blood!”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Your charge through this stage of writing is just to think less and feel more. Do not worry, do not edit, do not plan ahead. Never use writer’s block as an excuse. The only way to do it is to do it. When you’re stuck, the only way through it is through it. Just keep going. Put words on the page, worry about them later. Stop overthinking it and write.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Big reveal here: there is no such thing as writer’s block. There’s only laziness, fear, and overthinking. You’re just using the wrong part of your mind at that moment.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Somehow, they know exactly what to write, as if the words are flowing straight through them from somewhere else — somewhere magical, maybe.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“The moment you think you can no longer fail is when you fail most miserably.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Words, you say them and they float off into nothingness, but writing...it lasts, it persists, it’s undying, it’s you, and that scares the ever-living shit out of us.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Go, be a writer, and use your words as weapons to change the way people live their lives, including your own.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“You may say who am I to be a Writer, to put my heart and soul onto the page, to write my name on things, to have the gall to think I could stand alone with my words, to take chances, to try? I say, who the hell are you not to? This is a gift we all possess, an art we can practice without advanced instruction, a form of communication that can not only reach masses but also exist forever in time. Who are you to deny such a gift? You can write, and no one else is stopping you from being a Writer, only yourself. So don’t allow yourself to stand in the way of something so fulfilling.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Great writing connects emotionally. It lays obstacles and shows you the way over. It excites you, and incites you. It’s a skill, and an art form. It requires talent, experience, audacity, grit, and creativity. Even more, it requires empathy — the ability to feel and understand what someone else is feeling and experiencing. From habit to impulse and dedication to craving, if you can understand it, you can predict it. If you can predict it, you can provoke it. If you can make your readers feel something, they don’t need to think about anything, and that’s magical.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Great writing is music. It’s both painful and glorious. It melds words and phrases in such a way as to educate and inform while making you feel as if you’re part of a rare, deep, disruptive conversation. It hooks you, pushes you, and pulls you. It etches itself into your subconscious, maybe forever.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Great writing is not a series of words spelled correctly and lain flat within a set of strict guidelines. It’s not of a certain character count. It’s not done by committee. And it’s certainly not meaningless.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“I’d argue that the scribbling of shapes and symbols to express and communicate is all writing is, and therefore it’s not as precious a craft as many would lead us to believe.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less

“Start Stupid. Be open to new ideas, without judgement or self-consciousness, because that’s the only way to truly write.”
― James Dowd, Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less