Julia Cameron Quotes

Writing a memoir begins a process that doesn't necessarily end with publication. You begin to think about family life and stories and relationships, and those are ongoing.

Stories come to me and I don't know where they come from, but afterwards I can look back and say, 'Oh yes, that's got a little bit of me, or a little bit of my own son in it'. That's where ideas come from.

My father always told me I should be a writer, and I found I loved writing my autobiography; writing is such an interesting process.

I just sit down and the page just comes out and I look at it and the elements that appear on that page have a lot to do with what's going on in my life.

Like most writers, I write about what has happened to me as that involves the minimum amount of research.

People write memoirs because they lack the imagination to make things up.

It's actually easier to do autobiographical stories. The story is already there. It's a matter of carving away what doesn't fit rather than building up from nothing.

It's real easy for me to write a lot of stories. I just go and I live through something, and I go home and write about it. It's that quick.

When it was suggested that I write a memoir I said, 'I'm not old enough. I'm not distinguished enough.' But I went home and sat down to write, and the material for the book just came flooding into my hands.

I would like to continue to tell stories of what I did in a biographical way, so I will continue to write.

I wrote 'Legends of the Fall' in nine days, but I had been thinking about it for a few years.

I've been writing since I was 19.

I've been making notes of my life, but when it finally came time to write it, it took me back, and I cried many tears. But I also think that it's liberating.

I wrote 'Black Deutschland' very quickly one summer, probably because I had a lot of it in pieces and fragments sitting around over the years as false starts or notes.

I like autobiographies. I wouldn't mind making one of those.

I wouldn't like to be a character in one of my books!

It is very enjoyable, writing a story. You get this idea. It takes hold of you. And then you spend day and night thinking about how to do it. And then you do it. And much later, you think, 'Oh, yes. That's an interesting question.'

When I write, I try to capture one of those pivotal moments. If I succeed, I have shifted the reader's view of the world, just a little. The character is not the only one to experience change. That is my job, shifting perceptions, one story at a time. The trouble is, I don't like writing. But I love having written.

I think I've written 40 books, and none of them have been heavy on action. I'm an introspective person.

'An Unquiet Mind' wasn't hard to write in terms of the actual writing of it.

I write in a rush of memory.

Everything can be grist for the muse. Sometimes, writers draw on personal experiences. 'Ghoul' was just that.

I'm writing a book and working on my one-woman show, Learning To Be Human.

People say it's cathartic to write a book, but it turned out to be quite painful!

The novel, for me, was an accident. I really don't consider myself a novelist.