Work in the Morning...

Work in the morning, a short break for lunch, work in the afternoon and then watch the six o'clock news and then go back to work until bed-time. Before bed, listen to Schubert, preferably some songs.

COLM TÓIBÍN

Writing Is Like Meditation

Writing is like meditation or going into an ESP trance, or prayer. Like dreaming. You are tapping into your unconscious. To be fully conscious and alert, with life banging and popping and cuckooing all around, you are not going to find your way to your subconscious, which is a place of complete submission.

CAROLYN CHUTE

Read Like Mad

Read like mad. But try to do it analytically – which can be hard, because the better and more compelling a novel is, the less conscious you will be of its devices. It's worth trying to figure those devices out, however: they might come in useful in your own work.

SARAH WATERS

There Is No Cure for Writer's Block

There is no cure for writer's block. If it persists into the third day the writer must abandon all hope of authorship and go into the family business. Those who refuse this common sense alternative should identify the source of the block. When it is the result of fear the writer must complete the work and submit it even if humiliation and death are sure to follow. When it is the result of visceral disinterest, which sometimes emerges after agreeing to write something or other, it is better to own up frankly and abandon the work.

THOMAS POWERS

Writing is a Kind of Double Living

Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind.

CATHERINE DRINKER BOWEN

Reread, Rewrite, Reread, Rewrite

Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.

HELEN DUNMORE

Writing is Not a Profession but a Vocation of Unhappiness

Writing is considered a profession, and I don't think it is a profession. I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else. Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don't think an artist can ever be happy.

GEORGES SIMENON

The Subject of Drama is The Truth

The subject of drama is The Truth. At the end of the drama THE TRUTH—which has been overlooked, disregarded, scorned, and denied—prevails. And that is how we know the drama is done.

DAVID MAMET

The Work Never Gets Easier

The work never gets easier. It gets harder and more provocative. And as it gets harder you are continually reminded there is more to accomplish. It's like digging for gold. And when you find the vein, you know there's a lot more where that came from.

SAM SHEPARD

Writing is About Hypnotizing Yourself

Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then un-hypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly.

ANNE LAMOTT