Most writing doesn’t take place on the page; it takes place in your head. — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
Libraries are what is best about us as a society: open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, engaging. — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I can imagine a future in which real books will exist but in a more limited, particular way. — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
Every single one of my books had its title changed almost as we were going to press, for all sorts of different… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it. — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I am dismayed to realize that much of the advice I used to parcel out to aspiring writers has passed its sell-by… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
Parents, it seems, have an almost Olympian persistence when it comes to suggesting more secure and lucrative lines of work for their… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
Writing about someone well known removes that obligation of defending it as a subject, but it also means that some of the… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
Writers like to write, and writing in different forms - short, long, bite-sized, done on the fly, done with painstaking attention -… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
When I wonder what the future of books will be, I often think about horses. Before automobiles existed, everyone had a horse.… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
Writing about unknown people means I spend a lot of time arguing to the reader about why it's worth knowing about them.… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
They will be given as gifts; books that are especially pretty or visual will be bought as hard copies; books that are… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I'm much more willing to buy a novel electronically by someone I don't know. Because if halfway through I think, I don't… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
You have to appreciate the spiritual component of having an opportunity to do something as wondrous as writing. You should be practical… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
“Overnight, the city managed to procure thousands of cardboard boxes, fifteen hundred hard hats, a few thousand rolls of packing tape, and… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
“The library is a whispering post. You don't need to take a book off a shelf to know there is a voice… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I've used Twitter now and again to try to figure something out; it's an amazing resource. But I think you have to use it… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
Who on earth is going to use 'utilize' in a text message, a whopping seven characters including the always-hard-to-type 'z,' when you can say… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
When my son was born, and after a day of lying-in I was told that I could leave the hospital and take him home,… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I'm happy to be reminded that an ordinary day full of nothing but nothingness can make you feel like you've won the lottery. — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I once had a boyfriend who couldn't write unless he was wearing a necktie and a dress shirt, which I thought was really weird,… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
“I, too, had set out to be remembered. I had wanted to create something permanent in my life- some proof that everything in its… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done. — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I'm very excited about my new Spotify account, which gives me access to twenty gazillion songs any time, all the time. The day I… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I approach stories as a private educational enterprise: I want to learn about something. I teach myself through research, reporting, and thinking, and then,… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
We're fascinated by animals because it's almost like having Martians living among us. We can see some familiarity in them, but they're entirely different… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
My inspiration is really very simple: I'm struck by things that I want to know more about. I really do react just as a… — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
I am dismayed to realize that much of the advice I used to parcel out to aspiring writers has passed its sell-by date. — Susan Orlean Copy Share Image
