…the most beautiful things don’t always make you happy – often they make you weep…

Writing had never become routine for him, but remained a constant surprise. He was always surprised at how much fun it was, once it all got moving. And never failed to be surprised at how...

Books most certainly don’t write themselves, but life does. When in doubt about what to write, use your own life.

It could be a thousand things, distractions, worries;but very often I think what keeps a writer from finding the words is that she grasps at them too soon, hurries, grabs. She doesn’t wait for the...

How to preside over your own internal disorder? Finding the “I” that can represent the pack of you is the first challenge of the memoirist.

The process of putting the thing you value most in the world out for the assessment of strangers is a confidence-shaking business even in the best of times. But in Lucy’s circumstances it was sheer...

So what do you do when you are stuck?The first thing I do when I am stuck is pray. But I’m not talking about a quick, Help me Lord, Sunday’s a comin’ prayer. When I...

So they spread the paintings on the lawn, and the boy explained each of them. “This is the school, and this is the playground, and these are my friends.” He stared at the paintings for...

Give all that you can. No more. No less. Every. Single. Day.

Copies have been dethroned; the economic model built on them is collapsing. In a regime of superabundant free copies, copies are no longer the basis of wealth. Now relationships, links, connections, and sharing are. Value...

Writing takes a pen, a sheet of paper and, to start with, just the shadow of an idea.

I’ve always said, ‘I have nothing to say, only to add.’ And it’s with each addition that the writing gets done. The first draft of anything is really just a track.

Writing is like making love, editing is like giving your great grandfather a sponge bath.

I know now that the poem in my head, the one that pushed me to the page, begged me – or dared me to be born is almost never the poem that comes out. I...

The act of giving voice to this spiritual suffering is, in my view, the sacred duty of the writer.

Do not worry about what words to use. Worry about why this story needs to be told and the rest will take care of itself.

The sooner you finish procrastinating, the sooner you can get back to your art.

Some part of me knew from the first that what I wanted was not reality but myth.

The nerve which controls the pen winds itself about every fibre of our being, threads the heart, pierces the liver.

The artist Paul Klee described drawing a picture as taking a line for a walk. I have borrowed his words to explain my approach to writing; when I write a novel it is like I...

I’m an observer. I am fascinated by people and how their minds work (and, of course, my own). Why we are the way we are, why we do the things we do – and that...

I was afraid I wrote neither well enough nor ill enough for success.

Don’t over edit. Don’t second-guess yourself, or your ideas. Just write. Write every day, and keep at it. Don’t get discouraged with the rejections. Tape them up on your office wall, to remind you of...

I do not distinguish between the construction of a book and that of a painting and I always proceed from the simple to the complex.” – 1946

The best thing that can happen to me when I’m writing fiction is to lose sight of the fact that I’m writing at all. It’s as though I enter into a kind of trance. I...

self-published, ghost-written book” is wrong because the concept behind self publishing is that you have knowledge or emotions that you want to express. Whenpeople read a book—particularly a self-published one—they have the right to expect...

Start with a word. A word leads to a sentence, which leads to a paragraph, which leads to a chapter, which leads to a manuscript, which leads to a book….. just start with a word!

Writing is like daydreaming through your fingers.

We will need to find people who will provide a safe writing space for us, where criticism comes late and love and delight come early.—from Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing

Have you ever pondered the miracle of popcorn? It starts out as a tiny, little, compact kernel with magic trapped inside that when agitated, bursts to create something marvelously desirable. It’s sort of like those...

I was in the book, and the book was in my head, and as long as I stayed inside my head, I could go on writing the book. It was like living in a padded...

Of course, the writer can impose control; It’s just a really shitty idea. Writing controlled fiction is called “plotting.” Buckling your seatbelt and letting the story take over, however… that is called “storytelling.” Storytelling is...

I’m sorry if…I get too personal, if I make you uncomfortable, but writing is like one of the seven deadly sins, like Sharing on Mr. Rogers, and once you get the bug you’re trapped in...

I had found by experience that putting things down on paper helped to clear the mind in precisely the same way, as Mrs. Mullet had taught me, that an eggshell clarifies the consommé or the...

It’s better to be remembered for what you said, not what you earned.

I wish my brain had an off switch. Maybe that way I could get some sleep.

I prefer the pen. There is something elemental about the glide and flow of nib and ink on paper.

Let there be a Page, and many a Page,” and there was a Book. And we saw that the Book was good.

I started reading my manuscripts out loud, to hear what they sounded like. If the text flows with little effort, then I am satisfied, but if I keep stumbling and stuttering while I read, then...

On some days, writing is wonderful. On the days when it is wonderful, it feels like you are the God of a universe that the rest of the world is not yet privy to. And...

If your screen stays blank or your notepad empty, God cannot use your words.

It’s a bizarre but wonderful feeling, to arrive dead center of a target you didn’t even know you were aiming for.

…consider yourself a functional character in someone else’s novel – a background character – a person on the street – that’s the perspective …

I’m writing a book. I’m almost finished. I numbered the pages. Now all I have to do is fill them in.

To find the courage to keep writing after constant failure is awesomeness. Winning is eminent.

If you have a story inside you but don’t know where to start, look within and write from the heart, for the heart will never steer you wrong.

When writers stop believing in their own stories, readers tend to sense it.

I wrote the last sentence of The Patron Saint of Liars in early April and stumbled out of my apartment and into the beautiful spring feeling panicked and amazed. There is no single experience in...

When you write a manuscript, it feels like being in a relationship with someone. You’ll hate it, get bored with it, be pissed of, like you just want to break up. But, just like any...

Don’t give in to doubt. Never be discouraged if your first draft isn’t what you thought it would be. Given skill and a story that compels you, muster your determination and make what’s on the...