“We writers don't really think about whether what we write is good or not. It's too much to worry about. We just put the words down, trying to get them right, operating by some inner sense of pitch and proportion, and from time to time, we stick the stuff in an envelope and ship it to an editor.” ThinkingWritingTryingStuffWorryToo MuchSticksShipsProportionEditorsEnvelopes Author:Garrison Keillor
“A romp in the hay lingers like the first line of a song, but your true love is the one you make a life with and write more than a line about, you write a whole book.” WritingFirstsBookWholeSongLinesLove IsTrue LoveTrue Love IsHay Book:Love Me Source: Love Me
“I write on a laptop, so it's impossible to count drafts anymore.” WritingImpossibleLaptops Author:Garrison Keillor
“I don't associate work with feelings of satisfaction. Rather, guilt, frustration, and resentment of people who write better than I do.” PeopleWritingFeelingsGuiltSatisfactionFrustrationResentmentAssociates Author:Garrison Keillor
“Writing is the main gig and teaching and performing are sidelines, an excuse for not writing more. Working on a novel and on an opera make me seriously want to retire and find a volunteer job as a docent at the zoo explaining to schoolchildren where frogs go in the winter.” WantWritingJobsNovelTeachingWinterExcusePerformingRetiringOperaVolunteerExplainingGigsFrogsZoosSidelinesDocents Author:Garrison Keillor
“For me, the monologue was the favorite thing I had done in radio. It was based on writing, but in the end it was radio, it was standing up and leaning forward into the dark and talking, letting words come out of you.” WritingEndsDoneDarkTalkingStandingRadioFavorites ThingsMonologues Author:Garrison Keillor
“I write for a radio show that, no matter what, will go on the air Saturday at five o'clock central time. You learn to write toward that deadline, to let the adrenaline pick you up on Friday morning and carry you through, to cook up a monologue about Lake Wobegon and get to the theater on time.” WritingMatterShowsMorningFiveAirGoes OnPicksTheaterNo Matter WhatRadioCooksClockLakesSaturdayFridayDeadlineAdrenalineMonologuesLake WobegonFriday Morning Author:Garrison Keillor
“I think that if writers are tempted to do other things, they ought to go do other things. They should not write if they don't feel like it. I say this as a competitor. I am not interested in encouraging people who are in competition with me.” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsShouldWritingOughtCompetitionNot InterestedCompetitorsTempted Author:Garrison Keillor
“There was a price to be paid for being interested in fiction and in writing, pushing my family away. Books and authors became my family.” WritingBookFictionMy FamilyPaidPushing Author:Garrison Keillor
“You don't want to get that sort of sound in your writing that boing that gives you away.” WantGivingWritingSound Author:Garrison Keillor
“God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny.” KnowsLifeWritingPlayGodFunnyActorsActingLordKnow HowComedyTroubleInspirational LifeHumorousStuckUpliftingLive LifeEncouragingConfidence In GodHumoristsWords Of EncouragementBad HairBad GradesLake Wobegon Author:Garrison Keillor
“I've wanted to be a writer since I was a boy, though it seemed an unlikely outcome since I showed no real talent. But I persevered and eventually found my own row to hoe. Ignorance of other writers' work keeps me from discouragement and I am less well-read than the average bus driver.” WritingWellsRealWantedFoundMy OwnBoysTalentIgnoranceAverageOutcomesDriversBusUnlikelyDiscouragementHoeReal TalentBus Driver Author:Garrison Keillor
“A young writer is easily tempted by the allusive and ethereal and ironic and reflective, but the declarative is at the bottom of most good writing.” WritingYoungBottomIronicTemptedGood WritingYoung WritersEthereal Author:Garrison Keillor
“No innocent man buys a gun, and no happy man writes his memoirs.” MenWritingDeathGunSuicideMemoirInnocentHappy ManInnocent Man Book:Lake Wobegon Days Source: Lake Wobegon Days
“Don't tear up the page and start over again when you write a bad line-try to write your way out of it. Make mistakes and plunge on. Writing is a means of discovery, always.” WayWritingTryingMeanLinesMistakeTearsPagesDiscoveryMaking MistakesStarting OverPlunge Author:Garrison Keillor
“Some people think it is difficult to be a Christian and to laugh, but I think it's the other way around. God writes a lot of comedy, its just that he has so many bad actors.” PeopleThinkingWayWritingChristianActorsDifficultLaughingComedyTheologian Author:Garrison Keillor
“When writing loses touch with the beautiful surface of the world, it loses its way. You always want to be in touch with how things look and what people say and what they call their dogs.” PeopleWorldWayWantWritingLooksBeautifulLosesDogSurface Author:Garrison Keillor
“I love rhymes; I love to write a poem about New York and rhyme 'oysters' with 'The Cloisters.' And 'The lady from Knoxville who bought her brassieres by the boxful.' I just feel a sort of small triumph.” FeelsWritingNew YorkTriumphRhymeOysters Author:Garrison Keillor
“I can write anywhere. I write in airports. I write on airplanes. I've written in the back seats of taxis. I write in hotel rooms. I love hotel rooms. I just write wherever I am whenever I need to write.” NeedsWritingI CanRoomsWrittenSeatsHotelAirplaneAirportsTaxiHotel Rooms Author:Garrison Keillor
