Tom Hodgkinson Quotes

A writer who isn't writing is asking for trouble.

In producers, loafing is productive; and no creator, of whatever magnitude, has ever been able to skip that stage, any more than a mother can skip gestation.

It's a shame that creativity and sloth look exactly the same.

My counsel is, to force nothing, and rather to trifle and sleep away all unproductive days and hours, than on such days to compose something that will afterwards give no pleasure.

Loafing is the most productive part of a writer's life.

Whenever I produce my best work, it's always because I've spent time being idle. Something always emerges after nothing.

When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go... The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!

I hibernate. I hibernate until the next project takes shape in my mind.

Boredom always precedes a period of great creativity.

If you're waiting for the perfect moment, you'll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There's nothing foolproof.

But my favorite work is always my next piece.

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.

I should be writing a poem every morning but I'm not.

Sitting around and waiting for your muse is not the best choice.

For most people, creativity is a serious business. They forget the telling phrase 'the play of ideas' and think that they need to knuckle down and work more. Often, the reverse is true. They need to play.

I can't sit and twiddle my thumbs. I have to start writing even if it's miserable some days.

A manuscript under way always gave me something to do; only while enduring the aimlessness between books was I truly glum.

I once set myself a deadline: half a chapter a week, 20 minutes a day. The thought froze me instantly, like literary Botox. I returned to my non-schedule: sleeping, writing 20 minutes, and then back to sleep. Breakfast in bed, with juice congealing on the sill: pages and pages began to pour out again.

I do some of my best work when I'm dead.

The hardest part of doing anything creatively is just getting up and doing.

There's no writer's block; there's only distraction.

I really believe that cultivating creativity, as a general principle, is about managing your energy.

I often feel like not writing! Sometimes I overcome it by just sitting there until writing happens. Sometimes I don't write, because books often need periods of percolation.

I found that pottering is very conducive to my creative process, so now, I find myself being incredibly creative because I've got such much to procrastinate with.

If I don't feel like writing on a certain day, I just go to the cafe and hang around.