Ann Patchett Quotes

I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.

Ann Patchett

• Writing
• Book

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Quotes to Explore

• I guess I went into journalism to save the world. I always felt through writing that I wanted to rotate the world slightly.

  

  Carl Honore
  • World
  • Writing
  • Journalism

• It takes me a long time writing books. It takes me about five years to write a book, and when I'm done, the last thing I want to do is to do it again.

  

  Naomi Klein
  • Time
  • Long
  • Writing

• 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.

  

  Karen Joy Fowler
  • Writing
  • Friends
  • Marketing

• Every book I write, the media just keeps punching me in the face.

  

  Tama Janowitz
  • Book
  • Me
  • Face

• I think that the idea that I'm writing for many more people than I ever imagined has created a certain general responsibility that is literary and political. There's even pride involved, in not wanting to fall short of what I did before.

  

  Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • People
  • Writing
  • Political

• I enjoy it too much - even if I knew I'd never get a book published, I would still write. I enjoy the experience of getting thoughts and ideas and plots and characters organised into this narrative framework.

  

  Iain Banks
  • Experience
  • Book
  • Ideas

• One of the pleasantest things about book writing is that sometimes it brings one in touch with old friends.

  

  Rachel Field
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Friends

• My highest point was the first thing I won, a short story competition in a women's magazine in the Eighties. It was the first time I'd had my writing validated, and the first thing I'd ever shown anyone else.

  

  Kate Atkinson
  • Time
  • Writing
  • Women

• People say, 'How does having kids change your writing? Do you see the world through their eyes?' No - you just become a faster songwriter... In the old days, you'd be like, 'Oh I'm gonna work on this song for a few days.'

  

  Eddie Vedder Pearl Jam
  • People
  • World
  • Work

• I've been writing about my boyhood, when I was a little kid back on my grandfather's farm where we didn't know about black widow spiders or all that stuff. But writing about that is so easy.

  

  Kary Mullis
  • Writing
  • Black
  • Grandfather

• I like collaboration because, first of all, I'm good at writing lyrics. I don't know how to make beats. I don't play instruments. I'm not a good singer. So even when you see a solo album of mine, it's still a collaboration.

  

  Talib Kweli Black Star
  • Good
  • Writing
  • Lyrics

• I have no interest in writing, directing or producing.

  

  Ted Shackelford
  • Writing
  • Interest
  • Directing

• As a storyteller, when you're writing a movie and when you're directing, you want to keep people entertained. That's the whole point, right? It has to be entertaining.

  

  Fede Alvarez
  • People
  • Writing
  • Movie

• I have two daughters: One an open book, one a locked box. So the question of privacy is a challenging one. How much do kids need? How much should we give? How do we prepare them to live in a world where the very notion of privacy opens a generational chasm?

  

  Nancy Gibbs
  • World
  • Live
  • Book

• There's a market for mysteries for adults. That feeling of opening a book and delving inside and not coming out until you've closed the book.

  

  Kate Morton
  • Book
  • Feeling
  • You

• At 20 and 30, we are like travelers in a foreign country, reading the guide book to learn how to behave, to learn when the post office is open. Trivia looms important; critical issues fade into a pastel background, unrecognized.

  

  Karen DeCrow
  • Important
  • Country
  • Book

• I'm a pretty easygoing person, and it bleeds into the music. Even if I'm writing the most personal song, it's not going to come out totally serious; there's always a little tongue in the cheek.

  

  Mac DeMarco
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Pretty

• I was at a slight disadvantage in that I had never played in bands or done any performances before, and that's just as important as writing, recording, and putting records out. It's been a lot of hard work, balanced with a lot of pinch-myself moments of touring in crazy parts of the world.

  

  Washed Out
  • World
  • Work
  • Important

• My writing is progressing slowly, but at least it's moving forward. I'm sure that's the case. The only problem is that I'm never absolutely certain that what I've written is any good.

  

  Mikhail Bulgakov
  • Good
  • Writing
  • Problem

• I just have this thing about injustice. Everybody hates the big injustices - I know. But I hate even the little injustices, even the way a salesclerk treats somebody who is shabbily dressed and happens to go into a nice store.

  

  Maggie Williams
  • Hate
  • Know
  • Nice

• When you work on a record for three years, it's a great sense of relief when it is finally out in the world. It just feels good.

  

  M. Ward
  • World
  • Good
  • Work

• I like video games, but they are very violent. I want to create a video game in which you have to help all the characters who have died in the other games. 'Hey, man, what are you playing?' 'Super Busy Hospital. Could you leave me alone? I'm performing surgery! This guy got shot in the head, like, 27 times!'

  

  Demetri Martin
  • Help
  • Guy
  • Game

• If I win seven tournaments in a row, I get so confident I'm in a cloud. A loss gets me eager again.

  

  Chris Evert

• I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.

  

  Ann Patchett
  • Writing
  • Book