Aphorism: “Ass in chair.”

Have you read any of these? Imagine writing them!

This is perhaps my favorite instruction for myself and other writers. “Ass in chair.” It is the credo of prolific romance author, Nora Roberts. In other words, the #1 thing a writer needs to do is show up, sit down and write.

In a New Yorker profile from 2009, we learned all about her dedication to her craft. “Initially, Roberts wrote wherever she could: in the car-pool line, at the dentist’s office. As her career took off, she began to establish boundaries: ‘Don’t bother me unless it’s blood or fire…arterial blood and active fire.’”

“Ass in chair.” Words to write by.