How to Write Like a Writer Quotes

“I have, in the course of my professional life, used the words "heuristic" and "propaedeutic." This is not a confession that makes me proud, but these are part of the lexicon of the higher reaches of literary study, so they can't be avoided in some parts of the field. ... Oh, what do those two jawbreakers, "heuristic" and "propaedeutic," mean? Trust me, you don't want to know.”
― Thomas C. Foster, How to Write Like a Writer: A Sharp and Subversive Guide to Ignoring Inhibitions, Inviting Inspiration, and Finding Your True Voice

“If you were to read Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," and I hope you will sometime for stylistic and structural reasons and not because you are a Puritan...”
― Thomas C. Foster, How to Write Like a Writer: A Sharp and Subversive Guide to Ignoring Inhibitions, Inviting Inspiration, and Finding Your True Voice

“Between the ages of five and, say, twenty-two, the only experience the vast majority of people have with writing is by coercion. Mostly, that force is imposed by schools, but sometimes it comes from familial pressure (Dear Aunt Mary, Thank you for the handkerchiefs I needed them very much. I am fine how are you? Love, Mikey). The result of all this compulsion is that most people never write for their own purposes, never find pleasure or joy or creativity through writing, never experience fun via playing with words. Is it any wonder their efforts sound like cries for help?”
― Thomas C. Foster, How to Write Like a Writer: A Sharp and Subversive Guide to Ignoring Inhibitions, Inviting Inspiration, and Finding Your True Voice