Quotes About Writing

I just think, as writers, especially with a book that takes years to write, you sort of wake up every morning hoping and praying that you can make it work for the day.

I'm always reading. I have four books on my nightstand right now. The same is true with writing, I tend to work on several varying projects at once.

The great thing about dealing with people about whom we have historical resources, is that if the writing needs work, there's everywhere to go to enrich it.

As I get older and write more books I'm definitely allowing the humorous side of my personality more rein in my work.

I've been a comedian for a long time so writing and performing is a big part of what I do. If anybody's doing comedy they should also work on writing.

Directing is such a crucial part of the writing process; you start directing and you see what does not work. "Oh, God, what was I thinking?" and then you can rearrange it.

I've never had any kind of work ethic. I've never sat down with the intention of writing a song.

Plot and scene are still the hardest things for me, though I think they're the building blocks of what makes a story work.

It takes a long time to write a novel when you have to keep interrupting your work to earn money.

My journals were a clearing house - a garbage can. Once I was writing seriously, I understood that this was the stuff that didn't belong in my work.

I never feel so alive as when I'm writing and the work is going well.

The impact of any particular writer on your own work is hard to discern.

I try to only work on the screenplays for a few hours a day when I'm in my most voluble mood, just sort of writing whatever comes into my head. It's a very freeing thing.

I've often heard academics disparage non-academic writing in terms that suggest it could be a negative in the tenure process, irrespective of the quality of academic work under review.

When I left Iowa, I definitely never wanted to stand in front of a group of academics again and see if they approved of me. I made up my mind to take my work to the actual reading public.

Each book takes anywhere from two to three years to complete, from concept to outline to final edits. I work on as many as five at a time.

I just write all the time! I'm always working. I usually work on several books at once.

I don't use my writing career as a vehicle to get me acting work or to write roles for myself.

Every time I get through the work on a book of nonfiction, I say I'll never do it again; it takes so much out of you.

Making books is hard work. Some books are, of course, more demanding than others.

I often lose myself in the Sudoku-like challenges of making a book work.

The desire to write well can never be fulfilled without hard work.

When I'm working on a novel, I work 70-hour weeks.

All of my books come from something that I happen to be working out at a given point in my life. Its kind of self-therapy.