Quotes About Writing

Dicen que nunca se termina un libro, que simplemente el autor se da por vencido.

La novela se hace con trabajo, el cuento con inspiración.

Mi vida se hace al contarla y mi memoria se fija con la escritura;

Vreau sa ma gandesc ca meseria mea e VIATA si ca misiunea mea nu este sa prelungesc ura, ci doar sa umplu aceste pagini.

I also grew up with the family anecdotes told to me by my grandparents, my uncles, and my mother—very handy when it comes to writing novels. How many of them are true? Doesn't matter. At the hour of remembering, no one wants verification of facts, the legend is enough

Superego is not the same as consciousness; the former punishes us and the latter guides us. I stopped listening to the overseer inside me who demands compliance and performance with the voice of my grandfather. The race uphill is over; now I stroll calmly in the land of intuition, which has turned out to be the best environment for writing.

La memoria è invenzione. Selezioniamo il materiale più brillante e quello più buio, ignorando ciò che è fonte di vergogna, e così tessiamo il grande arazzo della nostra vita. Per mezzo della fotografia e della parola scritta cerco disperatamente di sconfiggere la fuggevolezza della mia vita, di catturare gli attimi prima che svaniscano, di rischiarare la confusione del mio passato.

if I'd been brought up protected and happy, what the devil would I write about now? With this in mind, I've tried to make my grandchildren's childhood ass difficult as possible so they will grow up to be creative adults. Their parents are not at all appreciative of my efforts.

I like fabrics, colors, makeup, and the routine of putting myself together every morning, even though I spend most of my time locked away in the attic writing. "No one sees me, but I see myself," my mother would comment philosophically

Hace once años escribí una carta a mi abuelo para despedirlo en la muerte, este 8 de enero de 1992 te escribo, Paula, para traerte de vuelta a la vida.

Me encierro en el baño, me doy una ducha fría y recito el repertorio completo de mis palabrotas, y enseguidame voy a pasar unas horas haciendo collares en el taller de Tabra. Fue muy útil la terapia. Gracias a eso y a la escritura sobreviví a variadas pruebas, aunque no siempre salí airosa, y se salvó mi amor con Willie. Elmelodrama familiar continuó, por fortuna, porque si no ¿de qué diablos iba yo aescribir?

IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT YEAR I had a spectacular dream, and I wrote it down to tell my mother; we always did that, even though there's nothing as boring as listening to other people's dreams. That's

Imi plac tesaturile, culorile, machiajul si rutina de a ma aranja in fiecare dimineata, cu toate ca majoritatea timpului il petrec inchisa in mansarda si scriind. Nu ma vede nimeni, dar ma vad eu spunea filozofic maica-mea, si nu se referea doar la aspectul fizic, ci si la trasaturile profunde de caracter si comportament.

Escribo sobre lo que me importa, a mi propio ritmo. Y en esas horas ociosas, que mi abuelo llamaba horas malgastadas, los fantasmas de la imaginación se convierten en personajes definidos, únicos, con su propia voz y dispuestos a contarme sus vidas si les doy suficiente tiempo.

Barrabás llegó a la familia por vía marítima, anotó la niña Clara con su delicada caligrafía.

Qué larga y confusa es la vida, mamá! — Al menos tú puedes escribirla para tratar de entenderla.

A caution to aspiring writers: not everything you write is worth keeping for the benefit of future generations.) When she gave me that notebook, my mother somehow intuited that I would have to dig up my Chilean roots, and that lacking a land into which to sink them I would have to do that on paper.

Clara los escribió para que me sirvieran ahora para rescatar las cosas del pasado y sobrevivir a mi propio espanto. El primero es un cuaderno escolar de veinte hojas, escrito con una delicada caligrafía infantil. Comienza así: <>

She knew the strange healing power words had from what she had written and discussed concerning her brother Enrique's fate—how important it was to share one's pain and discover that others too had their fair share of it, that lives are often alike and feelings similar.

En eso consiste a menudo la escritura: encontrar tesoros ocultos, dar brillo a los hechos gastados y revitalizar el alma desesperada mediante el soplo de la imaginación.

What is writing after all but an attempt to sort out the confusion of life?" @isabelallende

Yo escribía cada día un nuevo episodio, inmersa por completo en el mundo que creaba con el poder omnímodo de las palabras, transformada en un ser disperso, reproducida hasta el infinito, viendo mi propio reflejo en múltiples espejos, viviendo innumerables vidas, hablando con muchas voces.

Writing is a constant exercise in longing.

New Zealand is the only country I know well enough to write about. It can sometimes lead to complications.