You Should Be Writing

Write Like an Expert

“This journal is a must-have for writers everywhere. With quotes from a diverse group of historical and modern authors to use as creative prompts on every page, you’ll be able to bring your writing inspiration with you wherever you go.” —Sassy Townhouse Living

#1 New Release in Quotation References

From famous all-time-great poets like T.S. Eliot to modern creatives like Roxane Gay, the selected writing quotes in this journal aim to instruct and inspire you to become a better writer.

Writing Inspiration from Incredible Authors. Gathered by Brenda Knight and writing coach Nita Sweeney, author of Depression Hates a Moving Target, You Should Be Writing provides you with writing wisdom from a variety of accomplished authors.

Creative Writing Practice for Every Genre. This writing journal with prompts helps you practice a wide variety of writing skills. The excerpts and prompts include:

• General advice: “Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.” - Zadie Smith
• Helpful instructions: “If you scribble your thoughts any which way, your reader will surely feel that you care nothing about them.” - Kurt Vonnegut
• Genre-specific writing ideas and tips for particular areas of writing, such as poetry or storytelling: “For those whose bucket-list entails seeing their name on the spine of a book, it boils down to the power of persistence.” - Marlene Wagman-Geller

If you were inspired by the creative writing prompts and advice in 642 Things to Write About, Complete the Story Journal, or Piccadilly 300 Writing Prompts, you’ll love Brenda's and Nita's You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration & Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving.

Brenda Knight began her career at HarperCollins, working with luminaries Paolo Coelho, Marianne Williamson, and Huston Smith. Knight was awarded IndieFab’s Publisher of the Year in 2014 at the American Library Association. She is the author of Wild Women and Books, The Grateful Table, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation, which won an American Book Award. Knight is a poet, writer, and editor. She also serves as President of the Women’s National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter, and is an instructor at the annual San Francisco Writers Conference, Central Coast Writers Conference and wherever she can be with fellow writers. She resides in San Francisco, CA. Nita Sweeney’s articles, essays, and poems have appeared in Buddhist America, Dog World, Dog Fancy, Writer’s Journal, Country Living, Pitkin Review, Spring Street, WNBA-SF blog, and in several newspapers and newsletters. She writes the blog, BumGlue and publishes the monthly email, Write Now Newsletter. Her memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink, was short-listed for the 2018 William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award. Nita earned a journalism degree from The E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, a law degree from The Ohio State University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College. For ten years, she studied with and assisted best-selling author Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones) at weeklong writing workshops teaching the “rules of writing practice” and leading participants in sitting and walking meditation. Goldberg authorized Nita to teach “writing practice” and Nita has taught for nearly twenty years. When she’s not writing and teaching, Nita runs. She has completed three full marathons, twenty-six half marathons (in eighteen states), and more than sixty shorter races. Nita lives in central Ohio with her husband and biggest fan, Ed, and her yellow Labrador running partner, Scarlet (aka #ninetyninepercentgooddog). Becca Anderson comes from a long line of teachers and preachers from Ohio and Kentucky. The teacher side of her family led her to become a woman’s studies scholar and the author of the bestselling The Book of Awesome Women. An avid collector of affirmations, meditations, prayers, and blessings, she helps run a “Gratitude and Grace Circle” that meets monthly at homes, churches, and bookstores in the San Francisco Bay Area where she currently resides. Becca Anderson credits her spiritual practice and daily prayer with helping her recover from cancer and wants to share this encouragement with anyone who is facing difficulty in life with Prayers for Hard Times and her latest, The Woman’s Book of Prayer. The author of Think Happy to Stay Happy and Every Day Thankful, Becca Anderson shares prayers and affirmations, inspirational writings and suggested acts of kindness at https://thedailyinspoblog.wordpress.com She also blogs about Awesome Women at https://theblogofawesomewomen.wordpress.com/ @AndersonBecca_ on Twitter @BeccaAndersonWriter on Facebook @BeccaAndersonWriter on Instagram