Writing Quotes by Ann Patchett

I will write my way into another life.

— Ann Patchett

I'm very comfortable writing.

— Ann Patchett

Learn to write by writing

— Ann Patchett

You can't be a jerk in order to be a good writer.

— Ann Patchett

Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.

— Ann Patchett

If I was a waitress, I was too tired at the end of the day when I came home to try to…

— Ann Patchett

Updike and Bellow and Roth were my three favorite writers when I was young and throughout my life.

— Ann Patchett

Coming back is the thing that enables you to see how all the dots in your life are connected.

— Ann Patchett

You can't be a good person when you're writing and a bad person to your husband or a bad friend.

— Ann Patchett

I made a startling discovery. Time spent writing = output of work. Amazing.

— Ann Patchett

Anyone who doesn't read doesn't have any business writing.

— Ann Patchett

“We shared ideas like sweaters, with easy exchange and lack of ownership.”

— Ann Patchett

“No one should go into debt to study creative writing. It’s simply not worth it. This is not medical school.”

— Ann Patchett

I can write for any magazine now, in any voice. I can do it in two hours, I could do it in…

— Ann Patchett

I've never had a terrible job. I've been a cook, waitress, bookseller, teacher, freelance writer. I know what the bad jobs are,…

— Ann Patchett

“The more we are willing to separate from distraction and step into the open arms of boredom, the more writing will get…

— Ann Patchett

“An essential element of being a writer is learning whom to listen to and whom to ignore where your work is concerned.…

— Ann Patchett

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

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

Why is it that we understand playing the cello will require work, but we attribute writing to the magic of inspiration?

— Ann Patchett

I have been accused of being a Pollyanna, but I think there are plenty of people dealing with the darker side of…

— Ann Patchett

“Novel writing, I soon discovered, is like channel swimming: a slow and steady stroke over a long distance in a cold, dark…

— Ann Patchett

“if I wanted to be a better writer, I was the only person who could push myself to do it. It was…

— Ann Patchett

I think of Nashville as a very natural place. We're easy going, we are ourselves. There isn't a lot of preening or…

— Ann Patchett

Well, I always say that the two things I was most disastrous at in my life, being a teenager and being a…

— Ann Patchett

“a woman raised her hand and said that her minister had told the congregation that they should never read novels with omniscient…

— Ann Patchett

“If you want to write, practice writing. Practice it for hours a day, not to come up with a story you can…

— Ann Patchett

If what we want to do is promote reading and writing and publishing and making sure this is a business that keeps…

— Ann Patchett

“...fiction writing is like duck hunting. You go to the right place at the right time with the right dog. You get…

— Ann Patchett

“I wrote the last sentence of The Patron Saint of Liars in early April and stumbled out of my apartment and into…

— Ann Patchett

Do you want to do this thing? Sit down and do it. Are you not writing? Keep sitting there. Does it not…

— Ann Patchett

“Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to…

— Ann Patchett

“ What is the trick for writing dialogue? That you are not running a wiretap for the FBI. I used to have…

— Ann Patchett

I was starting to wonder if I was ready to be a writer, not someone who won prizes, got published and was…

— Ann Patchett

Sometimes if there's a book you really want to read, you have to write it yourself.

— Ann Patchett

You can't say, "I'm too busy writing to be political." You are one person.

— Ann Patchett

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

My writing process has changed because it's harder to find uninterrupted time.

— Ann Patchett

“Making friends with other writers you respect is reason enough to go to graduate school. You”

— Ann Patchett

“as far as I’m concerned, writer’s block is a myth.”

— Ann Patchett