In order really to write one has to sink deep into the self and become lost there.

When, however, one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils, of a wise woman selling herbs, or even of a very remarkable man who had a mother, then I think...

Stories serve multiple purposes. At a basic level they are great entertainment, which is essential for living a happy and healthy life, but on a deeper level stories help us explore issues that are otherwise...

In the country of the story the writer is king.

You learn to write by writing, and by reading and thinking about how writers have created their characters and invented their stories. If you are not a reader, don’t even think about being a writer.

I don’t think there’s any deep psychological reason. It isn’t comparable, say, to America’s involvement with Vietnam and the emotional scars that that has left behind. A much more cogent way of looking at it...

I’m astounded whenever I finish something. Astounded and distressed. My perfectionist instinct should inhibit me from finishing: it should inhibit me from even beginning. But I get distracted and start doing something. What I achieve...

When you fail, get hurt, feel bad, but act on it! Everybody fails, but the ones who act are the ones who change the world!

I liked reading biographies of writers, even if (as was the case with Monsieur Rabelais)I’d never read any of their actual writing. I flipped to the back and found the highlighted quote (“NEVER USE A...

Apparently, my hopes, dreams and aspirations were no match against my poor spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Contemplation + action = breakthrough

For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.

I’ve received two key pieces of advice in regard to my books. The first is, “You should lay off the f-bombs.” The other is, “You should add more f-bombs.

Good girls like myself need subversion. Being solemn, I aspire to comedy. Being a novelist, I aspire to the musical. Being organized, I aspire to luminous chaos. Loving the power of grammar and the fine...

All great stories began as shitty first drafts.There are no exceptions to this.

I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker.

I’m the first to admit that I don’t write right. Now, relax and enjoy the show! The sideshow, that is.

so little of what anything means comes through words.

You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a...

…writing surrounds us: it’s not something we do just in school or on the job but something that is as familiar and everyday as a pair of worn sneakers or the air we breathe.

Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.

The journey from the head to the hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write—and many of the people who do write—get lost.

Writing is like life: it goes on.

You describe your Wonderful Night very well. That is, you describe the place & the people and the night and the feeling of it all, very well—but not the thing itself—the setting but not the...

Writing is beautiful, like putting on a gold suit and going to sleep in it.

Seperti permainan Sepak bola, menulis itu sangat rawan di menit-menit awal dan menit-menit akhir.

I write-down to speak-up.

The beginning and the end are never really the journey of discovery for me. It is the middle that remains a puzzle until well into the writing. That’s how life is most of the time,...

Write and your experiences with others. Never underestimate your writings. It can bring hope and inspiration to many people.

She’s a writer. The kind of writer who wouldn’t be published outside. She believes that when one deals with words, one deals with the mind.

Isn’t one of the first lessons of good elocution that there’s nothing one can say in any rambling, sprawling rant that can’t, through some effort, be said shorter and better with a little careful editing?...

He did not wholly understand the intricate play of ideas and the complex phrases, but as he read he sensed a strong, who purpose behind the words and he felt that he almost understood.

I also know that not everyone will like what I do, and that there are many people who do love my work, and so I write for them, and for my own pleasure, and try...

I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.

One of the things I have come up against time and again in my career is the notion that because a book is easy to read it was somehow easy to write.

A critique is a necessary tool to sharpen your craft.

Was it only by dreaming or writing that I could find out what I thought?

Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.

None of this excuses anyone from mastering the basic ideas and terminology of economics. The intelligent layman must expect also to encounter good economists who are difficult writers even though some of the best have...

A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.”[Speech upon being awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (Peace Prize of the German Book Trade), Frankfurt Book Fair, October 12, 2003]

Why shouldn’t I? I demand silently. Why shouldn’t I become a famous writer? Like Norman Mailer. Or Philip Roth. And F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemmingway and all those other men. Why can’t I be like...

The denial of language is a suicidal one and we pay for it with our own lives.

Letter To Stalin”)

…words have been all my life, all my life–this need is like the Spider’s need who carries before her a huge Burden of Silk which she must spin out–the silk is her life, her home,...

manuscriptmeanuscriptmoanuscriptmanurescriptand so on

Art is a kind of magic. Creativity is mysterious, even to artists, who might be able to name their inspiration but can’t always explain how their influences and experiences came together to create this new...

My father once admonished me to master the laws that govern fine writing until I could weave my words into worlds. If ever I accomplish that feat, I will sign my name to the tale.

Through our reading we can travel to other times and other places, into other peoples minds and hearts and souls: it is a transcendent experience.

The one who pulls the puppet strings knows fairytales can heal.

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke or worried to death by a frown on the right person’s...