“I try to get a feeling of what's going on in the story before I put it down on paper, but actually most of this breaking-in period is one long, fantastic daydream, in which I think about anything but the work at hand. I can't turn out slews of stuff each day. I wish I could. I seem to have some neurotic need to perfect each paragrapheach sentence, evenas I go along.” ThinkingNeedsWritingTryingLongI CanStoriesFeelingsHandsSeemsTurnsWishStuffPerfectPeriodsPaperSentencesFantasticEach DayNeuroticDaydreamingParagraph Author:William Styron
“It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is wrong. Period.” IfsDoeMatterSidesPeriodsPaperSmartWho You AreTitlesPredictionsPapersHypothesisYour Side Author:Richard P. Feynman
“Every year, in the deep midwinter, there descends upon this world a terrible fortnight. ... every shop is a choked mass of humanity ... nerves are jangled and frayed, purses emptied to no purposes, all amusements and all occupations suspended in favor of frightful businesses with brown paper, string, letters, cards, stamps, and crammed post offices. This period is doubtless a foretaste of whatever purgatory lies in store for human creatures.” WorldYearsHumansLyingPurposeHumanityThis WorldPeriodsTerribleCreaturesOfficePaperMassLettersStoresFavorsChristmasCardsPostsShopsBrownStringsNervesOccupationStampsAmusementPursesSuspendedPurgatoryPost OfficeFortnightMidwinter Author:Rose Macaulay
“The first five years as a writer, I didn't know how to write at all. I couldn't write my way out of a white paper bag. And yet, I did some remarkable things. And later on, there were periods where I got this mission to find an articulate voice with rewrites and all. There were periods where I was as dense as Faulkner.” KnowsWayWritingYearsFirstsVoiceWhiteKnow HowFivePeriodsPaperMissionsMy WayFive YearsBagsRemarkableDensePaper BagsWhite Paper Author:Richard Meltzer