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The Washington Post’s neologism contest winners.

December 2, 2019June 5, 2026 3047

I came across this today and broke up laughing. These are seriously clever! Thanks to the Washington Post. I wasn’t aware of their neologism contest, but I am now! Read and enjoy. Pass it along.

Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.

Edward Albee

A writer without interest or sympathy for the foibles of his fellow man is not conceivable as a writer.

Joseph Conrad

I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.

Roald Dahl

It is perfectly okay to write garbage — as long as you edit brilliantly.

C. J. Cherryh

Don’t annoy an author, you’ll end up in their book and you won’t look good.

Lawrence Wray

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Mark Twain

A true author, no matter the medium, is an artist with godlike knowledge of his subject, and the proof of his authorship is that his pages smack of authority.

Robert McKee

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.

Christopher Hampton

Ever heard of a carpenter not going to work because he has “carpenter’s block”? If a writer can’t write, it’s because he doesn’t really want to, he isn’t ready to get it on paper or he’s just plain lazy.

Chet Cunningham

If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.

Stan Lee

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

E. L. Doctorow

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

Thomas Jefferson

If you start with a bang, you won’t end with a whimper.

T.S. Eliot

Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.

Michael Crichton

Anecdotes don’t make good stories. Generally, I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.

Alice Munro

Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river.

Lisa See

I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.

Stephen Wright

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.

Anton Chekhov

No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.

E. B. White

I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has just put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or banana split.