“No strict schedule, but I write nearly daily in my journal. Sometimes I go back and pull out things to give to my characters and my settings in books that I write. But the books themselves are not scheduled. I work on a book when it comes to me, usually about one a year. I spend a lot of time working on it in my head. But getting it published is another matter. So, I have a lot of unpublished manuscripts.” GivingWritingBookSometimesCharacter Author:Marie Bradby
“The idea for a book usually bubbles up from my sub-conscious when I am drifting off to sleep. Each one has started as a line or two that I've heard in my head. As a writer, you have to leave space to listen for words. That means finding time to be quiet and listen for that still, small voice.” MeanBookSleepQuietBubblesDrifting Author:Marie Bradby
“I am from many places. I am from a hike across Tuscany...waves of golden wheat undulating on the hills...tractors plowing new vineyards...taxi drivers yelling, "Bella!" I am from a canoe motoring through marshes in the Amazon outside Manaus, Brazil... Jacana birds taking flight as we pass houses on stilts... giant trees and lily pads...and giggling children jumping into the lake for a swim during a downpour, while I stand unbelievably drenched but baptized by a oneness of spirit.” ChildrenSpiritHouseTreeBirdWaveFlightHillsSwimTaxiBaptized Author:Marie Bradby
“Every person in the world should have the right to learn to read and go to school. It's our responsibility, as global citizens, to ensure that all people have access to developing that skill... and access to books.” PeopleWorldBookSchoolResponsibility Author:Marie Bradby
“We all have found ourselves in awkward, embarrassing situations, often brought on by ourselves - thinking we are saying something clever, for example, when it turns out to sound really mean or stupid. Those are the kind of embarrassing situations that we could have avoided. "Welcome to the human race," is about the only comfort we can give ourselves.” ThinkingGivingKindMeanSituationStupidComfortCleverWelcomeAwkwardEmbarrassingReally Mean Author:Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
“Anyone of any age, any race, any background, any education - if they write an interesting enough book - can become a published author. What it takes is imagination, the ability to put words on a paper in an interesting, perhaps even unique way, the fortitude to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, and polish, edit, polish, edit until the story sort of sings. I think everyone has a story inside him, but only a few have the persistence and, of course, the interest, to write it down and see it through.” ThinkingWritingBookEnoughAgeInterestImaginationAbilityInterestingUniquePersistenceFortitude Author:Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
“People can't help the way they feel, only what they do about it. They can no longer not be attracted to someone other than their spouse than they can say they are not hungry or not thirsty or not frightened or embarrassed. It's when you act on that attraction when you know it would be bad for your marriage that is the problem. In a good marriage, the couple are each as committed to the marriage as they are to each other.” PeopleHelpingProblemCoupleCommittedAttractionHungryEmbarrassedSpouseThirstyGood Marriage Author:Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
“The medieval ideas of the "wild wood" was like a cupboard into which they stuffed everything they were afraid of - Wodwose, Green Men, demons, strange creatures - and of course the most fearful thing of all- wild women and their sexuality!” MenStrangeSexualityDemonFearfulMedieval Author:John Matthews
“The wildwood is everywhere. It's inside us. It's outside us. And, of course, if you happen to be near any of the more ancient forests, not just in Europe; then, you are in touch with the source itself. But for me, it's about journeying into an inner landscape that is deeply embedded within us. We have a wild nature that most of us have forgotten, but it's there. And it's both light and dark. There are ancient atavistic things that need to be approached with care. But even these, if faced up to, can bring blessings.” CareDarkBlessingForgottenAncientEmbeddedLight And Dark Author:John Matthews
“We may think of ourselves as civilized, but there is always a wildness within.” ThinkingCivilizedWildness Author:John Matthews