writing

"One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death."

"The ability to dream is all I have to give. That is my responsibility; that is my burden. And even I grow tired."

"I need solitude for my writing; not 'like a hermit' - that wouldn't be enough - but like a dead man."

"But then, that’s the beauty of writing stories—each one is an exploratory journey in search of a reason and a shape. And when you find that reason and that shape, there’s no feeling like it."[Peter Wild Interviews TC Boyle, 3:AM Magazine, June 2003]"

"Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted."

"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."

"Writers are the exorcists of their own demons."

"A real writer learns from earlier writers the way a boy learns from an apple orchard -- by stealing what he has a taste for, and can carry off"

"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."

"Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy."

"I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card…and somehow the activity of writing changes everything."

"Writing is like sausage making in my view; you'll all be happier in the end if you just eat the final product without knowing what's gone into it."

"Writing may or may not be your salvation; it might or might not be your destiny. But that does not matter. What matters right now are the words, one after another. Find the next word. Write it down."

"Menulis kembali kenangan masa lalu butuh sebuah keberanian."

"it's good for you to write down your thoughts. It'stherapeutic because it forces you to slow down and think aboutlife."

"My very small part in WATCHMEN is that, every now and then, Alan would phone me: ''Neil, you're an educated man. Where does it say...''He would need a quote from the Bible, or an essay about owls. I was his occasional research assistant."

"Appearance blinds, whereas words reveal."

"If Pavlov tested his cat he would have failed."

"Like madness is the glory of this life."

"But isn't it true that an author can write only about himself?"