William Zinsser Quotes
One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material.
Quotes to Explore
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Writing an essay is like a school assignment: I have my topic, I organize my thoughts, and I write it. I have complete control over what I'm doing. Writing a novel is like setting out on a journey without knowing who or what I'll encounter, how long it's going to take, or where I'm going to end up.
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I wasn't one of those kids who grew up wanting to write or who read a particular book and thought: 'I want to do that!' I always told stories and wrote them down, but I never thought writing was a career path, even though, clearly, someone was writing the books and newspapers and magazines.
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It usually takes me 20 to 90 minutes to write a song because once I start, I don't stop. If I start writing a song, and you try to have a conversation with me, you're a bad person.
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I didn't have that thing that Michael Bolton did; my star power - my charisma - was not a match to my writing ability.
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Writing anything, it sorta starts the way you'd build a castle at the beach. You're just taking your hands and you're mounting up sand.
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'(Songwriting) It's a gift. It all comes from somewhere. I started out really young, when I was four, five, six, writing poems, before I could play an instrument. I was writing about things when I was eight or 10 years old that I hadn't lived long enough to experience.'
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It sounds odd, but I was a singer and started writing songs, and I didn't have anything in mind. Maybe it crossed my mind that it would be cool to have a hit record and a career, but that was so out of reach that I don't think I thought about it that much.
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I think I get certain pleasure from writing what I'm performing.
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The more you write, the more you're capable of writing.
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Have a working spouse, because you won't earn a living from writing - not at first, if ever. My wife worked for years to support us.
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Writing is a really good first step toward that goal of knowing yourself.
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I did try to write stories in college because I was interested in writing, and I was interested in the sound of language, but I was just no good at narrative and at fiction.
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When you start early, and you're writing for free, there's a lot of producers that will take advantage of you... It is seared in my brain forever.
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Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.
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I grew up performing in glee club at my school; I was the ostrich in 'Peter Pan,' and then I was super-involved in church choir and worship leading at my church. So I always loved music and was involved with it, but never really thought it was what I wanted to do until I started writing.
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It is not about writing those hits again. I am sure I could write them, but it is about the sensibilities.
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When I first told people I was writing a book, some would say that was interesting, but others thought it was some holiday project and I would lose interest. I think my parents thought the same thing, and they were surprised when I kept going. I'm not sure I thought I would keep going, but then it became a big part of my life.
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I'd been in college studying English creative writing and history when I made the decision to join the Marines in the runup to the Iraq war.
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After the Beatles and Dylan, there's this assumption that you are a singer-songwriter, or that if someone else is writing your rhymes, you're a fake rapper.
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I'm perfectly gregarious, but I can also be really happy left to my own devices with nobody watching me or listening to me.
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Strange it is that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free speech but object to their being "pushed to an extreme," not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case.
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Am I going to complain about being typecast as smart? I don't think so.
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Many men and women enjoy popular esteem, not because they are known, but because they are not known.
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One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material.
