Writers Speak Up About the Writing Life
by Landis Wade
Charlotte Readers Podcast began, four plus years ago, with the tagline: “where authors give voice to their written words.” But our guest authors didn’t just read their work, they also spoke — elaborately, engagingly, and earnestly — about their work and about the work of writing. After more than 500 interviews with authors from 33 states and five countries, I realized I needed to flip the script. In addition to hearing what they had written, people needed to read what they had to say.
The result: The Write Quotes, an eight-book series about writing, publishing, book marketing, and much more.
Available now is Book 1: The Write Quotes: The Writing Life, created with the help of my podcast co-hosts, Sarah Archer and Hannah Larrew. You can download it for free right here. The quotes in this book reveal how hard-working, award-winning, and New York Times bestselling authors feel about being a writer. As the late Anthony Abbott eloquently said, “Writing is not about writing, necessarily. Writing is about living. And the more deeply and fully you live, the more you are able to write.”
We learn from the quotes in this book that no matter how much or how little money writers make (or lose) in their writing lives, or how demanding writing can be for them, they grab for their pens and fire up their computers mostly for the love of it. Writing is like a giant magnet that sucks them in. They have a common urge to create, to use letters, words, and sentences to tell stories, either about themselves, or others, or about characters they create and befriend in their writing chambers. They also write for therapy or to understand themselves or the world around them. They write for the sake of writing and they write for publication. They write to be remembered and they write to be heard and understood. They counsel us to relax and enjoy the journey, to trust ourselves and write what we love, and to learn the rules, so we can break them.
As more than one author said, they write because they can’t not write.
And perhaps most telling is the advice that it is never too late to start writing.
Book 1 is filled with writers you know, and writers you will meet for the first time: David Baldacci, Therese Anne Fowler, Ron Rash, C.J. Box, Wylie Cash, Judy Goldman, Amber Smith, Kimmery Martin, A.J. Hartley, Clyde Edgerton, Jill McCorkle, Jason Mott, Mark de Castrique, Cathy Pickens, and many more local, regional, and nationally recognized authors. This kind of wisdom is hard won — and sometimes it’s free. Enjoy!
Landis Wade is a recovering trial lawyer turned author turned host of the popular Charlotte Readers Podcast (where he has conducted more than 500 author interviews), whose third book—The Christmas Redemption—won the Holiday category of the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards, and whose recent novel, Deadly Declarations, received praise by Kirkus Reviews, BookLife Reviews and Midwest Book Reviews. He also has been interviewed on more than 25 podcasts and media outlets, gaining interview experience from both sides of the mic. He’s taught courses on podcasting, audiobooks, book marketing, and writing, and has been active in the Charlotte and North Carolina writing communities.
Let’s talk about the writing life. On March 1 at 6 pm, join Landis, co-hosts Sarah Archer and Hannah Larrew, and Charlotte Lit co-founders Kathie Collins and Paul Reali (who are both quoted in the book) for a community conversation on the writing life. Free, via Zoom. Register here.