That's the way I work. I get it all plotted in my mind, and then I write it down. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
You can't say, "I'm too busy writing to be political." You are one person. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“We all have ideas, sometimes good ones, not to mention the gift of emotional turmoil that every childhood provides.” — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“Art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means that to get to the art you must master the craft. If you… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
If you want to write and can't figure out how to do it, try this: Pick an amount of time to sit… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
If a person has never given writing a try, they assume that a brilliant idea is hard to come by. But really,… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“if I wanted to be a better writer, I was the only person who could push myself to do it. It was… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
You can't be a good person when you're writing and a bad person to your husband or a bad friend. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
People always say, "Can writing be taught?" I always think, I can teach you how to write a better sentence, how to… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
I think people become consumed with selling a book when they need to be consumed with writing it. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“...writing stories was always a bit like falling in love with a stranger and running off to Marrakech for a long weekend.… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
You can't be a good person when you're writing and a bad person to your husband or a bad friend. You can't… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“ What is the trick for writing dialogue? That you are not running a wiretap for the FBI. I used to have… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
I made a startling discovery. Time spent writing = output of work. Amazing. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
I have been accused of being a Pollyanna, but I think there are plenty of people dealing with the darker side of… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“Maybe everyone does have a novel in them, perhaps even a great one. I don't believe it, but for the purposes of… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
Write because you love the art and the discipline, not because you're looking to sell something. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
I used to do everything to keep a wall up around myself and keep my life quiet so that I could write. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
The idea I pursue is the one that keeps coming back to me. The characters I think about as I'm falling asleep… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
I can't write the book I want to write, but I can and will write the book I am capable of writing. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“Without worry to protect me, every thought that came into my mind received real attention.” — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“I wrote the last sentence of The Patron Saint of Liars in early April and stumbled out of my apartment and into the beautiful… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“In the future, he will try to say her name enough, but he never can.” — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
My novels are very much the same, as I think many people's novels are. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“He was in love, and never had he felt such kindness towards another person.” — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
If I was a waitress, I was too tired at the end of the day when I came home to try to write. — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“She didn't know how to hate her mother yet, but every time she left her father crying in the airport she came that much… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
“When you think of love you think as an American. You must think like a Russian. It is a more expansive view.' 'Americans havea… — Ann Patchett Copy Share Image
