If you're like me, you know that you love to write, but that it's not always easy to find inspiration or motivation. I'm a huge fan of looking at what other author's have said about writing - we're all in the same boat together, aren't we? So here are a few words and tips that some writers have for other writers.

1. "Find what works for you, and exploit it." - Mark Twain

American author and humorist Mark Twain has quite a bit to say about writing, but this is a favorite of mine. Essentially, find what you love to do and do it - exploit your talents, seriously.

There are a million and one things that Victor Hugo has said that take my breath away, and it's nearly impossible to choose just one quote that I love. This one, however, speaks to me. When I took the advice and started carrying a notebook, I filled one within a few weeks. Inspiration really is everywhere.

3. "Poets are always taking the weather so personally." - J.D Salinger

Let's be honest, we take everything more personally than most.

4. "Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open." - Natalie Goldberg

You can't be inspiring without first admitting your own fear.

5. "You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better." - Anne Lamott

This quote from Anne Lamott is one of my favorites. I take it both as a word of caution and a word of advice - don't hold back.

6. "The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say." - Anais Nin

Intriguing writers aren't few and far between, but Anais Nin is unlike anyone you will ever read. Everything she says is incredibly and uniquely poetic - just like her advice.

7. "No black woman writer in this culture can write "too much". Indeed, no woman writer can write "too much"... No woman has ever written enough." - Bell Hooks

Preach.

8. "Nothing haunts us like the things we don't say." - Mitch Albom

If you don't know Mitch Albom, go pick up a copy of Tuesday's With Morrie. Now. Seriously.

9. "Make it dark; make it grim; make it tough, but then, for the love of god, tell a joke." - Joss Whedon

Because really, what is life - or literature - without a little humor?

10. "Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration. The rest of us get up and go to work." - Stephen King

If you needed a little push, there. That was it.

Bonus:

One more word of advice from Stephen King:

"By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing."

Keep on writing.