Quotes About Writing

I write everything with fountain pens. I don't know why. I've done it since I was bar mitzvahed. I was given a fountain pen, a Parker fountain pen, and I loved it, and I've never liked writing anything with pencils or ball-points.

I lose pens a lot, so I don't use fancy ones.

Throwaway pens are no good - I never liked them. I've tried them all.

I love pens, especially when writing on good-quality paper. But I don't have a favorite - I try all kinds in all colors. Like most folks, I misplace them a lot, so I don't use anything too fancy.

There's an ongoing 'water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink' situation at my house in terms of both pens and paper.

You know, I have dropped three expensive pens on the nib. And it just makes you cry when it happens.

It wasn't until after college that I started writing. I had just applied randomly for jobs in the media and got one on a magazine called 'Pensions World.' So I was writing for a living there and that's when I started my first book.

I spent a lot of time writing about tax and pensions and mortgages.

People say there's a book in everyone but I'm not sure there is. There might be a pamphlet in me.

There's always these giant baffling books, like 'The Da Vinci Code.' People say it's not as well written as 'Midnight's Children.' Why aren't people reading 'Midnight's Children?' Nobody knows why these phenomenons happen but they're great.

When people say to me, 'Why are you so good at writing at women?' I say, 'Why isn't everybody?'

People say you make your best work when you're in despair and all that, and at your lowest - but for me, I think happiness makes you positive, and I think that's a good creative place to write from.

If a man is a writer, everybody tiptoes around past the locked door of the breadwinner. But if you're an ordinary female housewife, people say, 'This is just something Barbara wanted to do; it's not professional.'

It gives me a huge buzz when people say they've enjoyed my books, because this grew out of a hobby, and it's an absolute passion, and it's lovely when I get feedback.

People say it's cathartic to write a book, but it turned out to be quite painful!

I always thought it'd be fun to write something, but it never was an ambition of mine, per se.

I don't want to be famous per se, but I want to write books for as long as I can. And I plan on writing a lot.

I don't sit down to write a song, per se.

I'm a fast writer, and crime novels are easy to do. It's much harder to write a 1,000 word article, where everything has to be 100 per cent correct.

I never was a big believer that you can teach writing per se.

Why do I write? From selfishness. Because this state of liquefied, complex concentration, however faintly and dimly I'm able to perceive it, is the greatest pleasure I know.

What comes to me always is a character, a scene, a moment. That's going to be the beginning. Then, as I write, I begin to perceive an ending. I begin to see a destination, although sometimes that changes. And then, of course, there's the whole middle section looming.

I'm very grateful that anyone takes the time to read what I write, coming from people perceive to be exclusively a musical background and having no traditional schooling in writing.

Write for yourself, not for a perceived audience. If you do, you'll mostly fall flat on your face, because it's impossible to judge what people want. And you have to read. That's how you learn what is good writing and what is bad. Then the main thing is application. It's hard work.