Vicki Baum Quotes
To me, writing is not a profession. You might as well call living a profession. Or having children. Anything you can't help doing.

Quotes to Explore
-
Writing about the future and the past is less a way of dramatizing change than of showing, by way of contrast, what abides.
-
I read my books to writing workshops and friends, and I'm often focussed just on keeping them entertained. I never think about marketing at all.
-
I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.
-
I like to perform live like we're all just hanging out in my living room. I'm totally casual and informal on stage.
-
I've been writing fiction probably since I was about 6 years old, so it's something that is second nature to me now. I just sit down and start writing. I don't sit down and start writing and it comes out perfectly - it's a process.
-
When I'm writing, I'm just in it and trying to figure out what seems best.
-
I am a great procrastinator. When the writing is going really well, the laundry piles up.
-
'Float On' was a fine song, but I was still writing the lyrics on the last day we were working on it and deciding if it was something we wanted to put on the record.
-
Writing is a solitary journey, so I am always excited to go out on book tour and meet readers one-on-one.
-
I studied philosophy, religious studies, and English. My training was writing four full-length novels and hiring an editor to tear them apart. I had enough money to do that, and then rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.
-
Because I find writing painful, I try to get it over with as fast as possible. But I write every day, or I lose the thread.
-
Freedom is living without chains.
-
I'm an intense guy. I run 10 miles a day, which helps alleviate my intensity. Also, singing helps defuse my intensity. Playing the piano helps, and writing helps.
-
Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.
-
I tend to read more nonfiction, really, because when I'm writing I don't like to read other fiction.
-
Writing blurbs for books means you have to read the book, and it cuts into the business of bookselling. So every time I get a blurb from a bookseller, I try to write a thank you note.
-
I start writing with only the vaguest idea about who my characters are and what is going to happen, and the characters and plot come into existence as I go. I've tried doing it the other way, but for me, outlining is a waste of time because I never follow the outline.
-
I made a living being a background singer for years.
-
Other people are talking about writing books about my life, or about some of the things I've done. I find it strange, but I also feel it's my life and my story, and I guess I better be the one to get it on paper the way it actually happened.
-
Everybody thinks I'm so nice because they hear me so nice at night. And I'm like, 'No, I'm just tired. I'm exhausted, OK?'
-
Growing up in D.C. there are so many different types of educational and professional levels. They call D.C. 'Chocolate City' but just because we're all chocolate doesn't mean we're all the same. In D.C., everyone co-exists harmoniously but the lines are still drawn. And people don't really step over those lines.
-
Freedom does not come without a price. We may sometimes take for granted the many liberties we enjoy in America, but they have all been earned through the ultimate sacrifice paid by so many of the members of our armed forces.
-
To me, writing is not a profession. You might as well call living a profession. Or having children. Anything you can't help doing.