C.S. Lewis had it Write

Reading C.S. Lewis is like having coffee with a friend who is really smart. And very, very well read.

A thinking Christian, Lewis is profound, articulate and, at the same time, quite down to earth. What he says in a few words is a lot.

Here are some of my favorite Lewis quotes about writing:

“First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write to be understood; we write in order to understand.”

Obviously, I’ve had this all wrong. Start writing, and then start thinking.

“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally–and often far more–worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”

Ha. My love of pirate stories and fairy tales is validated.

“It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”

My bookshelves are cluttered with dead friends. Or rather, with their minds, preserved in book form. The book of Hebrews says of Abel, “He being dead yet speaks.”

“When you give up a bit of work don’t (unless it is hopelessly bad) throw it away. Put it in a drawer. It may come in useful later. Much of my best work, or what I think my best, is the re-writing of things begun and abandoned years earlier.”

There is hope for my stalled-out works-in-progress?

“The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.”

Right. I am lazy and expect to be spoon-fed. Like that’s working well.

And this last one, while not about writing, speaks to my tendency to feel sorry for myself.

“Crying is all right in its own way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.”

Note to self: Get over that two-star review on Amazon, Laura. (And tell me again why you are reading reviews?)

All right, this is quite enough sniveling from me. Happy Monday, friends!