“It appeared that after first contemplating a book on some subject, and after giving serious preliminary attention to it, I needed a period of subconscious incubation which could not be hurried and was if anything impeded by deliberate thinking.... Having, by a time of very intense concentration, planted the problem in my subconsciousness, it would germinate underground until, suddenly, the solution emerged with a blinding clarity, so that it only remained to write down what happened as if in a revelation.” IfsThinkingGivingWritingFirstsBookProblemAttentionHappenedSubjectsSeriousNeededPeriodsSolutionsIntenseClarityRevelationsConcentrationContemplatingSubconsciousDeliberateIncubation Author:Bertrand Russell
“Honestly, as hard a profession as acting is, I think music is even harder. Acting, you're like a leech, because someone else does the hard part for you. They write it for you, then the director tells you what to do. You really just need to know how to pay attention, follow instructions.” ThinkingKnowsNeedsWritingDoeHardPayActingAttentionKnow HowDirectorsMusic IsHarderProfessionHonestlyPay AttentionInstructionLeeches Author:Michael Shannon
“Talent is required, but much of writing is a matter of craft, which develops with time, attention, patience and practice, like playing an instrument or learning to dance.” WritingMatterAttentionPracticeTalentInstrumentsCrafts Author:Susan Wiggs
“I think it's a very old and deep-seated double standard that holds that when a man writes about family and feelings, it's literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it's romance, or a beach book - in short, it's something unworthy of a serious critic's attention.” ThinkingMenWritingBookFeelingsRomanceLiteratureAttentionSeriousStandardsCriticsBeachTopicsUnworthyAbout FamilyDouble Standard Author:Jennifer Weiner
“Sandeep Jauhar’s Doctored is a passionate and necessary book that asks difficult questions about the future of medicine. The narrative is gripping, and the writing is marvelous. But it was the gravity of the problem—so movingly told—that grabbed and kept my attention throughout this remarkable work.” WritingBookProblemAsksDifficultAttentionMedicinePassionateNarrativeRemarkableGravityMarvelousGrippingDifficult Questions Author:Siddhartha Mukherjee
“I pay attention to the actors and stuff, but not even that much. I don't pay attention to who's writing.” WritingActorsStuffPayAttentionPay Attention Author:Jason Mewes
“I never set out to write songs about the world around me... it just kind of came about as a result of paying more attention to things.” WorldWritingKindSongResultsAttention Author:Iris DeMent
“I think in any writing you're paying attention to detail.” ThinkingWritingAttentionDetailsPay AttentionAttention To Detail Author:Peter Matthiessen
“Life makes writing poetry necessary to prove I really was paying attention.” WritingAttentionProvePay AttentionWriting Poetry Author:Mark Strand
“While I was an addict, I didn't write anything. I didn't have the attention span or the will.” WritingAttentionAddictDrunkennessAttention Span Author:David Crosby
“When you write something new about science, other scientists may not like it but they pay attention because it is subject to proof. When you write something new about art, it is subject only to the reader's discomfort, and will probably be rejected.” WritingMayArtPayAttentionSubjectsReaderScientistProofPay AttentionSomething NewRejectedDiscomfort Author:Walter Darby Bannard
“I like to be aware of a book as a piece of writing, and aware of its structure as a product of mind, and yet I want to be able to see the represented world through it. I admire artists who succeed in dividing my attention more or less evenly between the world of their books and the art of their books . . . so that a reader may study the work with pleasure as well as the world that it describes.” WorldWantWritingMindWellsMayArtBookAbleArtistPleasureAttentionStudyPiecesProductsReaderSucceedStructureAdmireDividing Author:Annie Dillard
“I learned early on that I could get a lot of attention by singing and writing little songs, so it was like throwing nuts to a monkey... I just couldn't get enough.” WritingLittlesEnoughSongAttentionLearningSingingThrowingNutsMonkeys Author:Dolly Parton