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The Fantastic Mind Blog

All about fantasy - movies, t.v. shows, books, reading, and writing!

12 Amazing Quotes About Reading From World Famous People

6/27/2016

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There's nothing quite like getting lost in a good book.
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“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
― Groucho Marx
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“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

“Think before you speak. Read before you think.”
― Fran Lebowitz, The Fran Lebowitz Reader
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“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.”
― James Baldwin

“Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real.”
― Nora Ephron
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“Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo had said..."As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar.”
― Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

“I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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“I love books, by the way, way more than movies. Movies tell you what to think. A good book lets you choose a few thoughts for yourself. Movies show you the pink house. A good book tells you there's a pink house and lets you paint some of the finishing touches, maybe choose the roof style,park your own car out front. My imagination has always topped anything a movie could come up with. Case in point, those darned Harry Potter movies. That was so not what that part-Veela-chick, Fleur Delacour, looked like.”
― Karen Marie Moning, Darkfever

“Why can't people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?”
― David Baldacci, The Camel Club
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“A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.”
― Robertson Davies

“It wasn't until I started reading and found books they wouldn't let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else.”
― John Waters
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Do you have any favorite quotes about reading? Share them now in the comments below!
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15 Famous Quotes About Writing From Some of the Best Writers Ever

6/18/2016

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I've always loved the written word. Each book I've read (and I've read a lot!) has changed me in some small or large way. Writing is a way to make a mark in the world, be heard, take a stand. Ever since grade school I've heard the call to become a writer. I shrugged it off for a long time but it got to the point where I could no longer deny it. And I'm so glad I finally listened and started writing! I feel a release of pressure, a lightening of my load when I write.

Here are 15 of my favorite quotes from famous writers about writing (in no particular order).

I agree with every one of them!

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“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”

Neil Gaiman
“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.”

Virginia Woolf
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“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

W. Somerset Maugham
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

Maya Angelou
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“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

Anne Frank
“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

Orson Scott Card
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“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”

John Steinbeck
“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”

Thomas Mann
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"The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better."

Stephen King
"There is nothing to writing. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

Ernest Hemingway
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"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."

Louis L'amour
"You might not write well every day but you can always edit a bad page. You cannot edit a blank page."

Jodi Picoult
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"Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words."

Mark Twain
"You fail only if you stop writing."

Ray Bradbury
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"Writers aren't exactly people - they're a whole bunch of people trying to be one person."

F. Scott Fitzgerald
It's as fun for me to look at pictures of the great writers as it is to read their famous quotes! They are each so different and fascinating in their own way. You can really see their personalities in the way they pose for the camera, whether they choose to smile or not, the way they tilt their head or the way their eyes twinkle.

Anyone can be a writer! And the world needs diversity now more than ever. So if you feel the pull to write, if you have a story to tell then get to it! Don't let anything hold you back.

Who are your favorite writers? What are your favorite quotes about writing? Comment below!
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3 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy The Journey

6/7/2016

3 Comments

 
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I've always been impatient. I rush through everything in life. It's a race for me. How fast can I drive to work? Ooops! I got a speeding ticket. How fast can I get my work done? Oh, you say I work too hard and I don't socialize enough? Hmmm. How fast can I make dinner? Oh no! I burned dinner! Again!

Do you remember the Adam Sandler movie Click? In the movie, he gets a magical remote control that allows him to fast forward through his life. So he starts using the remote control to quickly get through the parts of his life that he deems unimportant. Just a little at first. And then more and more. And then suddenly he's old and alone and he realizes in hindsight that he fast forwarded through all of the important parts of his life. Of course he regrets ever using the remote control at all.

That movie touched me deeply at the time because I have always focused on the end result. I want to get to the finish line and I don't want to waste time getting there. I turn into a machine sometimes, checking tasks off as I go without much awareness of anything going on around me. Multitasking, working on auto pilot. Not tuned into the present moment at all. Missing out on important parts of my life.

I can't help it! Sometimes I would love to be able to fast forward through certain things in life. Like driving. I hate driving! But I have to remind myself to slow down and be present. The entire journey is the goal, not the end destination. Every minute of every day is important. Even driving. I don't want to look back at the end of my life and wish I hadn't sped through most of it.

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Three Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy Your Journey

Take Time to Wander
I rush to and fro every day, taking my daughter to preschool on the same route, doing the shopping at the same places. I pass by interesting coffee shops, grocery stores and restaurants and think "Someday..." I'm too busy today. Years pass by this way. Well, guess what? I'm always going to be too busy! Someday is today! We are here to learn and grow and explore, not just get through the routines of life. I finally took a Nia class last week and I really enjoyed it! Nia is a barefoot cardio-dance workout combining dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts. It's a workout for your body, mind, emotion, and spirit. Nia is an excellent way to slow down and be present. Another good way to slow down and be present is to drive a different route than normal. Whenever I find myself driving around Portland looking for something I automatically slow down to admire all of the beautiful homes and yards. People really take great pride in their homes here so it's a joy to wander through neighborhoods. Get out of your routine and step out of your comfort zone. Explore your world. Open your mind and your heart and try something new. Nourish your inner wanderer!

Reconnect with Nature
I run at a nearby park several times a week but I rarely pay attention to what's going on around me. Running is just another task I need to complete. And I'm usually in my head plotting and planning my life away! But upon the suggestion of a friend, I've started to walk more than run. I get out of my head, put my to do list aside for a few minutes and really tune into nature. I watch the squirrels gathering nuts and running up and down the trees with ease. I watch the wind blow the leaves on the trees and smell the flowers. I listen to the birds sing. Nature moves at a slower pace. Being present in nature helps you slow down. Get outside and walk around the block, take a hike, or even just sit on your porch and be attentive for a couple of minutes. You'll feel refreshed and energized.

Simplify Your Life
Sometimes I like to think I'm superwoman, able to handle anything and everything that gets thrown at me. And then I get so frazzled, running around like a crazy lady and I wonder why I always have so much to do. But I do this to myself! And I can stop doing it to myself too. I am in control. I don't have to subscribe to every newsletter, join every writing group, take every writing and marketing course I learn about, read every magazine and newsletter that gets sent to me, use every coupon I come across, and be on every social media platform out there. I get to a point every now and then where I have to cut back and simplify or I'll go stark, raving mad! Pick and choose what's most important to you and just say "no" to everything else. Throw away, give away, unsubscribe, cancel and downsize whatever you can live without and simplify your life. You'll find more time for the important things in life like making memories and having fun with family and friends. And you'll find that you're enjoying the journey more.
How do you slow down when your life starts getting too crazy?
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    J.L. Eck

    I'm a romantic at heart with an overactive creative mind and an artistic soul. I've always been an avid reader - I read as much as I can as often as I can! Writing has been a life long dream that I haven't allowed myself to pursue until just recently. In April I finally published my first novel - Naupaka Blooming, a Hawaiian Reincarnation Romance. And now I'm working on the first book in a new fantasy thriller series called Summer's Shadow.

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