Need Writing Motivation? These 3 Quotes Are Sure to Give You Some

Unexpected observations about writers and writing from David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell and Neil deGrasse Tyson

My bargain purchase of 2020 was a MasterClass subscription. I actually purchased it in December 2019 when I came across an offer for two yearly subscriptions for $85 dollars each. I kept one for myself and gave the other to a dear friend.

DISCLAIMER: I’m in no way associated with MasterClass!

I’ve listened to over fifteen MasterClasses, on subjects as varied as economics, cooking, US presidents, negotiating, and, of course, writing.

Here, I’ll share with you three great quotes that have done wonders for my motivation to write.

Writing makes the bad a bit less bad.

“You’re so privileged to be a writer. Normal people, something bad happens to them and there’s nothing they can do with it except feel bad, or complain, or press charges.” David Sedaris

These are the first two sentences out of David Sedaris’s mouth in his introduction to his Masterclass, Storytelling and Humor. If there was ever a writer to draw you in with humor and truths we think but don’t say, it’s Sedaris.

The possibility of selling 10 thousand books is remote. So is the likelihood that thousands will read your article, that The New Yorker will reply to your pitch or that your screenplay will become a film or TV show.

But that bad things will happen to you is a certainty. And, as it happens, you’re a writer and you get to write about them! We get to squeeze the hell out of anything bad that happens to us. Aren’t we lucky?

Writing lets you time travel.

“Writing is the ultimate form of communication because it passes through time. You can talk to someone 100 years from now when they read your writing.” Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson may best be known as a famous astrophysicist, but he also happens to be a bestselling author. While his MasterClass, Scientific Teaching and Communication, includes fascinating information about the universe, it’s mostly about how to effectively communicate complex information and ideas.

Neil deGrasse is such an effective communicator that he inserts time — not only an essential variable in studying the cosmos but also the ultimate finite resource of every human life — into his pitch that writing your thoughts down is worth your time.

All lives are relatively short. What we write can live on a good while longer than us.

Just aim lower!

“The task of a successful writer is to lower the bar. You want to avoid areas of high difficulty. A high-difficulty task is having a story in your head before you write it…. Just start writing and then work it out.” Malcolm Gladwell

This was precisely the kind of motivation I needed this week. What with the 2020 election, I’ve been sucked into political conversation and news and had a difficult time focusing on anything else.

I keep to a schedule of two posts per week. Today is Sunday and, unless I get this article out today, I won’t meet my commitment to self. I’d written the three quotes included here as I listened to the MasterClasses, always thinking to include them in a compilation of unusual motivational quotes.

But you know what? As I began to write the piece, I decided to take Gladwell’s advice and lower the bar by just focusing on quotes distilled from MasterClass instructors. So I reworked my introduction and took out the two other quotes I had in mind, which were of a more serious nature. I’ll save them for a more serious list.

In my opinion, writing is a scary endeavor. Is any of what I have to say original in any way? Do I make sense? Why would anyone want to spend any of their precious time on this?

If writing causes you a great deal of self-doubt, as it does me, keep in mind that writing lets you squeeze something good out of the bad and may even turn you into a time traveler. Above all, never forget that you can always lower the bar.

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