I'll give you the whole secret to short story writing. Here it is. Rule 1: Write stories that please yourself. There is no Rule 2. O. Henry More Quotes by O. Henry More Quotes From O. Henry The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate. O. Henry fate-and-destiny fate adventure We can't buy one minute of time with cash; if we could, rich people would live longer. O. Henry rich cash people It ain't the roads we take; it's what's inside of us that makes us turn out the way we do. O. Henry turns way If a person has lived through war, poverty and love, he has lived a full life O. Henry poverty and-love war Fortune is a prize to be won. Adventure is the road to it. Chance is what may lurk in the shadows at the roadside. O. Henry shadow may adventure Each of us, when our day's work is done, must seek our ideal, whether it be love or pinochle or lobster à la Newburg, or the sweet silence of the musty bookshelves. O. Henry silence sweet lobster No friendship is an accident. O. Henry funny-best-friend inspiring friendship Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence. O. Henry dough communication conversation There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American. O. Henry biscuits thanksgiving one-day I've got some of my best yarns from park benches, lamp posts and newspaper stands. O. Henry yarn stories writing A good story is like a bitter pill, with the sugar coating inside of it. O. Henry sugar-coating pills stories Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. O. Henry adversity pet life You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your wife till she's joined a woman's club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a broomstick on the shanty of a consul in a foreign town. O. Henry old-glory home appreciation It was beautiful and simple, as truly great swindles are. O. Henry business simple beautiful Turn up the lights. I don't want to go home in the dark. O. Henry light dark home To a woman nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the man she worships. O. Henry worship impossible men I wanted to paint a picture some day that people would stand before and forget that it was made of paint. I wanted it to creep into them like a bar of music and mushroom there like a soft bullet. O. Henry bars mushrooms people Write what you like; there is no other rule. O. Henry writing All of us have to be prevaricators, hypocrites, and liars every day of our lives; otherwise the social structure would fall into pieces the first day. We must act in one another's presence just as we must wear clothes. It is for the best O. Henry hypocrite liars fall Yes, I get dry spells. Sometimes I can't turn out a thing for three months. When one of those spells comes on I quit trying to work and go out and see something of life. You can't write a story that's got any life in it by sitting at a writing table and thinking. You've got to get out into the streets, into the crowds, talk with people, and feel the rush and throb of real life-that's the stimulant for a story writer. O. Henry real writing thinking
