Michael Jackson Quotes Writers Should Know
June 26, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Jobs
Michael Jackson. Sigh. He was this crazed soul that had such a tragic life and even sadder death. I feel like a part of our culture, as a country, has died with him. He’s left a lot behind, though, and I just wanted to share with you three Michael Jackson quotes that you can apply to your life as a writer:
“I’m never pleased with anything, I’m a perfectionist, it’s part of who I am.”
You should always, always, always be improving as a writer. When you write something, read it. Fix it. Read it again and again. When you give something to your client as “done,” it needs to be as perfect as possible.
Image: Newscom
“Just because it’s in print doesn’t mean it’s the gospel.”
Your sources may not always be valid. Do your research; check and double-check every fact. Yes, it takes more time, but if you publish information that is incorrect, you’re part of the problem.
“You try be as original as you can be without thinking about statistics, just you go form [sic] the soul and from the heart.”
Money matters. Traffic matters. But you know what? Writing something from the soul is much better. When you have great content, the rest will fall in place.
I also wanted to share my favorite MJ quote with you all (even if it doesn’t really apply to writing). I’m sure many of you have heard it, but it’s pretty spot on about how I feel about life:
“If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”
Okay, I’m going to be a total @ss and say if you’re going to talk about perfectionism and quality writing, then make sure you proof your own post. In the title: “3 Michael Jackson Quotes Writes Should Know,” you should spell out the number, change it to “Four” since that’s how many quotes you have, and correct the spelling of “Writers.” Then in the first paragraph, change “five quotes” to “four quotes” since, again, that’s how many quotes you have.
I know I sound harsh—I mean no offense. Better to hear this from some random guy you’ll never meet (me), than from a potential client or employer.
My favorite quote of these is the third. I’ve never heard it before and I think it’s quite important—in fact it may be the best defense against burn-out as a writer. (That quote has a typo in it, too, though. Sorry, I can’t let go.)
Charles, we have a character limit in titles for this website, so it isn’t always possible to spell out things. It also means that I occasionally get cut off when I’m typing a word and a letter gets dropped. That’s why the number had to be dropped completely when adding the ‘R’. Don’t worry; you don’t sound like an ass. Every writer makes mistakes, and it is important to help one another out by pointing out the errors.
There are four quotes, but only the first three apply to writers (hence the number three originally in the title). The last is just a quote from him that I like.
And the typo in the quote as actually his, not mine…at least, according to the source material I used. I should have used [sic] to make that clearer, so I added that.
Allison, thank you for the reply and for taking my comments in the spirit they were given. What you said about helping each other out is exactly right. I appreciate direct feedback myself and I’m glad that you do, too. Keep up the great blog!
I will surely miss Michael Jackson, he is really worthy of the name King of Pop and he is certainly one of the greatest musicians of all time.
here’s my thought on Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson always claimed he was “peter pan”. the anesthesia Propofol is used for knocking people out for surgery. when i had surgery i had a ” o.b.e ” ” out of body experience ” . i was in the Conner high up on the ceiling looking at the doctors work on my body. then i was sucked back into my body. Michael Jackson learned about this probably on some of the surgeries he had had. he wasn’t using it to get ” high ” so to speak, but to have ” o.b.e,’s ” and be like peter pan. Michael Jackson would have ” o.b.e ’s ” from taking Propofol and would fly around the room and probably to other places until it was time to come back to his body. just as i have, and many who have been under the anesthesia Propofol. but this time no one was there to revive him, and now hes caught between worlds. he is forever peter pan and now his ghost will be seen walking the land.
jeff woolwine
petroglyphsinthesky