What I Meant to Say
(Expanded) Words of Wisdom from Women Writers
Virginia Woolf
A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.
What I meant to say: A woman must install an app like Freedom or Self Control to quiet the incessant bing-bong notifications of social media and to protect her against the siren call of Natasha Lyonne’s Twitter feed if she is to write fiction.
Dorothy Parker
I hate writing, I love having written.
What I meant to say: Dear god, I would have absolutely killed on Twitter. I would have a million followers and one of those check marks by my name and I would have hated it, but also loved it. Naturally, I’d have been darling at it.
Margaret Walker
A writer needs certain conditions in which to work and create art. She needs a piece of time; a peace of mind; a quiet place; and a private life.
What I meant to say: See how I incorporate homophones and rhyme without it sounding like I’m trying too hard to impress someone? That’s what you want to strive for. Also, don’t be airing all your business on the Internet. No one needs to know what you eat for lunch.
Fay Weldon
If you write for long enough and often enough, it becomes in the end as natural a function as breathing or eating.
What I meant to say: I want you to write as naturally as breathing and eating, I do; but you need to shower occasionally and change out of those ratty pajamas and brush your teeth and go outside and talk to people. Trust me, just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Erica Jong
Given the hours put in, the money isn’t all that good. Counting taxation and time spent, most writers make less than dental hygienists.
What I meant to say: You should become a dental hygienist. Yes, it’s kind of gross to imagine spending your days wrist deep in other people’s saliva, but at least you’ll earn a steady paycheck and get health insurance — two things you definitely won’t be getting as a writer, gentle reader.
Jane Austen
And sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in.
What I meant to say: I would never pass an afternoon by posting photos of my drawing room and tea pastries on Instagram, nor would I engage in spiteful Twitter feuds, nor would I be taken in by the Russian bots on Facebook, because it is a poor creature indeed who raises her voice when she has nothing of substance to say. You should try to be more like me, though I’ve set an impossible standard.
Eudora Welty
If you haven’t surprised yourself, you haven’t written.
What I meant to say: You will be surprised when you write a chapter of your book or an essay or a poem instead of procrastinating by surfing the internet or cleaning the gunk from the cheese drawer in your refrigerator. It’s good to be surprised.
Gertrude Stein
An artist needs time to do nothing but sit around and think and let ideas come to him.
What I meant to say: A male artist needs time to do nothing but sit around. A female artist will come up with ideas while working full time, raising children, and possibly running for office.
Gloria Steinem
Most writers write to say something about other people — and it doesn’t last. Good writers write to find out about themselves — and it lasts forever.
What I meant to say: You are stuck with yourself. If you’re me and you have a long career fighting for women’s rights and tearing down the patriarchy and somehow managing to look cool in every decade, this is a good thing. I do not know whether it will be a good thing for you, but I’m on your side. I’m always on your side.
Agatha Christie
The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.
What I meant to say: Do the dishes. At least put them in the dishwasher so you don’t have to wake up tomorrow and look at your crusty cereal bowl in the sink. Nothing saps book planning like the sight of a crusty cereal bowl first thing in the morning.
Toni Morrison
Write when you know you are at your best.
What I meant to say: I meant to say exactly what I said. I’m Toni Morrison and I speak with unerring wisdom and my voice sounds like the voice of God. Also, I am always at my best. Always.
Tiffany Quay Tyson is a writer living in Denver, Colorado. She brushes her teeth every day whether she leaves the house or not. Follow her on Twitter @tqtyson.
