“I love writing in longhand. Writing in longhand, I think, is a marvelous thing to do for a writer these days. If you have a notebook and a nice pen you can go off somewhere, you can write that's solar powered. You can drop it or get it wet and pretty much all of your work will continue to be there. If you suddenly decide to look up a word or check a reference you will not look up four hours later, blinking, finding yourself somehow in the middle of an Ebay auction you never had any plans to be part of.” IfsThinkingWritingLooksHoursFourNicePlansMiddleFindingsChecksThese DaysThings To DoLook UpFinding YourselfPensWetMarvelousNotebookAuctionsEbayMarvelous Things Author:Neil Gaiman
“I think something that forces financial institutions to write down underwater mortgages, I think, would be a sensible thing to do.” ThinkingWritingWould BeForceInstitutionsFinancialThings To DoSensibleMortgageUnderwaterFinancial Institutions Author:Christina Romer
“I don't really get hate mail, which surprises me, but people have better things to do than to write hate mail to somebody who writes a book about hating everything, I guess.” PeopleWritingBookHateSurpriseThings To DoMailSurprise MeBetter Things To DoHate Mail Author:Jhonen Vasquez
“I'm so grateful to Hugo Lindgren, Jon Kelly, and the people who gave me the opportunity to write a weekly column. It's an amazing thing to do, and when I started they both said, you know, the problem with columns is they just exist forever.” PeopleKnowsWritingSaidProblemOpportunityForeverGratefulThings To DoColumnsAmazing ThingsSo Grateful Author:David Plotz
“I decided very early that I wanted to write. But I didn't think of it as a career. I didn't even think of it as a profession... It was the most exciting thing, the most powerful thing, the most wonderful thing to do with my life.” ThinkingWritingWantedPowerfulCareersWonderfulDecidedExcitingProfessionThings To DoMost PowerfulWonderful ThingsExciting Things Author:Mary Oliver
“I started blogging a decade ago because I like blogging. Writing's a kind of lonely thing to do and I liked the idea of demystifying the process because I loved it as a kid and teenager and as somebody who wanted desperately to write.” WritingKindIdeasKidsWantedProcessLonelyDecadesTeenagerThings To DoBlogging Author:Neil Gaiman
“Drawing used to be a civilized thing to do, like reading and writing. It was taught in elementary schools. It was democratic. It was a boon to happiness.” WritingSchoolUsedReadingTaughtDemocraticDrawingUsed To BeThings To DoCivilizedElementary SchoolReading And WritingBoon Author:Michael Kimmelman
“Writing a novel is a very hard thing to do because it covers so long a space of time, and if you get discouraged it is not a bad sign, but a good one. If you think you are not doing it well, you are thinking the way real novelists do. I never knew one who did not feel greatly discouraged at times, and some get desperate, and I have always found that to be a good symptom.” IfsThinkingWayFeelsWritingWellsLongRealHardFoundSpaceNovelNovelistsThings To DoDesperateSymptomsDiscouragedHard Things Author:Maxwell Perkins
“I compelled myself all through to write an exercise in verse, in a different form, every day of the year. I turned out my page every day, of some sort - I mean I didn't give a damn about the meaning, I just wanted to master the form - all the way from free verse, Walt Whitman, to the most elaborate of villanelles and ballad forms. Very good training. I've always told everybody who has ever come to me that I thought that was the first thing to do.” WayGivingWritingYearsFirstsMeanDifferentWantedFormMastersExercisePagesTrainingVery GoodDamnThings To DoVersesCompelledWaltBalladsDays Of The YearFree Verse Author:Conrad Aiken