On Writing

One thing I’ve sometimes known and sometimes forgotten is that writing is a side effect of living, not the other way around. There are years that are for listening and reading and not producing that much. Sometimes doing your work is a critical and life-sustaining act, and other times writing is just something you’re hiding in; our creative lives... See more

She would wake at 2am and write until 6am before starting her shift, then she would go to a cafe when it finished at lunchtime and write all afternoon.

“I only hope it is some good. I have very grave doubts sometimes. I don’t want this to seem hurried. It must be just as slow and measured as the rest but I am sure of one thing — it isn’t the great book I had hoped it would be. It’s just a run-of-the-mill book. And the awful thing is that it is absolutely the best I can do. Now to work on it.”—... See more

“The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”

[I]n order to write a book, do a deed, paint a picture with some life in it, one has to be alive oneself. And so, unless you never want to progress, study is a matter of very secondary importance for you. Enjoy yourself as much as you can, have as many diversions as you can, and remember that what people demand in art nowadays is something very... See more

There may be many instructions out there for how or why to keep a diary or waste book or whatever, but my sense is that when a writer keeps a journal, its main benefit is not increased productivity or emotional balance or even practice for our rapidly degrading handwriting—for a writer, keeping a journal or otherwise writing sentences and... See more

Lamott writes, “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.”

Perhaps this is an obvious one, but please do not check your email or the news or your texts or your social media or anything like that right when you wake up. (Get a real clock; don’t sleep in the same room as your phone.)

I’m not one of those people who think you have to write from some sacred, semi-subconscious state of mind that’s closest to... See more

Stephen Sondheim replied right away. He offered love and sympathy — “and tea, if you want it.” His protégé’s predicament seemed totally understandable. “I don’t know why this hasn’t paralyzed you already,” he emailed back. “I’m sure it’s already occurred to you, but the simplest way is the best. Isolate yourself from everything but family and... See more