Quotes About Craft

One mistake with beginners in writing is, that they think it important to spin out something long. It is a great deal better not to write more than a page or two, unless you have something to say, and can write it correctly.

I think the funny thing about acting for me - and I hold it in a very holy, spiritual way - not to be overly fundamentalist about it, but it's that important to me - is that it is an ancient healing art.

You get spoiled as a novelist because you get to be the director and the editor, and you play all the parts, but as a screenwriter, you are a bit down the ladder.

Luck is earned. Luck is working so hard at your craft, service or enterprise that sooner or later you get a break.

I do think that short story writing is often a matter of luck.

I was an artist, but not a self-proclaimed great artist, just a common man who was working in a form of art which is universal.

The writer who knows what he's doing isn't doing very much.

Director of any film is very important, and an actor has to leave himself in his hands to mould.

There are decisions I could have made, moves I could have made, that would have got me seen more. I do it because I enjoy the craft and the challenge of trying to make something that doesn't exist come alive, and that's what I'm in it for.

I've got to see my movie to see how I'm acting, see what little things I can learn about my craft.

I'm not a movie star. I'm just an actress.

I am an actress. I am not a movie star.

Editing is where movies are made or broken. Many a film has been saved and many a film has been ruined in the editing room.

Once the director calls for action, we act; we stop when he says 'Cut.' It is sort of like meditation - unknowingly, you are moving out of yourself, becoming someone else. That is why I consider acting a form of meditation.

Mum had a job fitting upholstery into cars, but, in the evenings, she worked as a seamstress.

Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised.

Part of being a writer is just getting it in your bones, getting the muscle memory down, just doing it.

The muscles you flex in theater are muscles that you really need. I must always find a way to get back there. It's irreplaceable.

Composing music is hard work.

Musical theatre is, for sure, my first love.

I'm envious of writers and musicians. I think it must be so difficult. Not just the frustration, but the discipline.

I don't want to live in a bubble, in my craft or in the world... I can't, I would be cheating myself out of my generation and the world we live in.

The minute I start to talk about acting, I realize that I can't. You know, it's an abstract thing, a little bit mysterious even if you do it for a living.

Acting is a mysterious process.