“Well, I always say that the two things I was most disastrous at in my life, being a teenager and being a wife, were the two things I really wound up cashing in on when I was writing fluffy magazine pieces.” WritingWellsTwoPiecesWifeWoundsMagazinesTeenagerTwo ThingsFluffyBeing A Teenager Author:Ann Patchett
“I can write for any magazine now, in any voice. I can do it in two hours, I could do it in my sleep, it's like writing a grocery list.” WritingI CanTwoVoiceCan DoHoursSleepListsMagazinesGroceriesI Can Do ItGrocery Lists Author:Ann Patchett
“If you want to write and can't figure out how to do it, try this: Pick an amount of time to sit at your desk every day. Start with twenty minutes, say, and work up as quickly as possible to as much time as you can spare. Do you really want to write? Sit for two hours a day.” IfsWantWritingTryingTwoHoursMinutesFiguresAmountPicksTwentiesDesksSpares Book:This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage Source: This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
“We have different kinds of intimacy with many, many people. I'm disappointed by well-written novels that only deal with two or three people.” PeopleWellsKindTwoDifferentThreeDealsNovelWrittenIntimacyDisappointedDifferent KindsWell Written Author:Ann Patchett
“I could teach. I could wait tables. I could cook in a restaurant. Food and teaching were the two skills I had.” TwoWaitingTeachTeachingSkillsTablesCooksRestaurants Author:Ann Patchett
“[I remember going] to a hotel gym at six o'clock in the morning, and the television was on, and it's some drama in which two men have clearly kidnapped a woman. They're interrogating her, and they put a plastic bag over her head. They're suffocating her, and I'm thinking, It's six o'clock in the morning! Why does anybody need to see this? How can I find the off switch?” ThinkingMenNeedsDoeTwoRememberMorningTelevisionDramaSixClockBagsHotelGymPlasticKidnappedSuffocatingPlastic Bags Author:Ann Patchett
“I was starting to wonder if I was ready to be a writer, not someone who won prizes, got published and was given the time and space to work, but someone who wrote as a course of life. Maybe writing wouldn't have any rewards. Maybe the salvation I would gain through work would only be emotional and intellectual. Wouldn't that be enough, to be a waitress who found an hour or two hidden in every day to write?” IfsWritingTwoEnoughCoursesFoundGivenHoursSpaceWonderEmotionalReadyIntellectualGainsSalvationRewardsStartingPrizeTime And SpaceWaitressCourse Of Life Author:Ann Patchett
“There was such an incredible logic to kissing, such a metal-to-magnet pull between two people that it was a wonder that they found the strength to prevent themselves from succumbing every second. Rightfully, the world should be a whirlpool of kissing into which we sank and never found the strength to rise up again.” PeopleWorldLoveShouldTwoFoundWonderKissingLogicIncrediblesMetalsMagnetEvery SecondWhirlpoolsSuccumbing Author:Ann Patchett
“Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings. Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.” ThinkingWorldGivingMeanTwoImportantCharacterStoriesTurnsReadingSoundLinesAbilityBrainFictionNovelQuietSkillsComplexesFollowingDisappearFasterStayingBitesEmpatheticSound Bites140 CharacterReading Fiction Author:Ann Patchett
“If you've had good gin on a hot day in Southern California with the people you love, you forget Nebraska. The two things cannot coexist. The stronger, better of the two wins.” PeopleIfsTwoWinningForgetLove YouStrongerHotCaliforniaTwo ThingsSouthernGinCoexistNebraskaSouthern CaliforniaHot Days Book:The Best Contemporary Women's Fiction: Six Novels Source: The Best Contemporary Women's Fiction: Six Novels
“Staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.” WorldGivingTwoAbilityNovelQuietSkillsDisappearFasterStayingEmpathetic Author:Ann Patchett
