Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Quotes

I've been able to write at least one book a year for 20 years, and I don't think I would've had that kind of drive if I hadn't come out of the journalism business.

I only did about one novel a year while I was working full time, but since 1993, I've averaged two and a half books a year.

I kind of like to write fast. It keeps the pacing up. And it keeps me off the streets.

If I'm writing books, I'm a 'New York Times' bestseller - how do I do it all? I don't know.

A fortunate author can write maybe twelve novels in his lifetime.

I like writing. I get cranky when I can't. Yes, I write books back to back, and I work very hard on them.

I remain convinced that the most valuable use of time for a newly published author is to write a second book that's even better than the first, and a third that's better than the second, and on and on.

I am always trying to write.

I'm surviving and developing as a writer. I don't know what brings you to mass attention in terms of sales. But I've gotten more and more comfortable with it. Of course if that changes, I'll be comfortable with that. All I can do is write the best books I can.

I'm not the most talented writer in the world. I know that. But I also know that I'm disciplined, that I work my butt off, and that I make myself write as much as I can. Writer's block is a luxury I can't afford. I'm a professional writer, which means that I put my butt in the chair each day, and I write. Simple as that.

I've only had four ideas for a novel in my life, and I've written all of them.

I was writing blogs before work, then I was writing at work, and then I started writing books on the weekend because you just have that sort of energy in your 20s; it's wonderful.

I'm constantly writing.

People imagine that there are rituals, like lighting candles or sacrificing chickens. They really just want to know what the magic formula is for writing. I inevitably disappoint them by saying you just put your butt in the chair, and you write 500 words a day, and then you get up and repeat it the next morning.

When I settled to writing seriously, which would be in my 30s, I did expect to be published eventually, but my aspirations weren't very high. A published book and a few appreciative readers was my idea of heaven.

I have met so many people who say they've got a book in them, but they've never written a word. To be a writer - this may seem trite, I realize - you have to actually write.

I used to get up and write every day, even if I wasn't working on a specific thing. Now, when I have a thing I'm in the middle of, I do that, but when I'm not, time can go by when I'm not writing at all.

As a writer, I've always been somebody who's been productive and hustled hard.

The main thing about writing is... writing. Sitting your butt down in the chair and doing the work.

People always ask, 'How do you write so many books?' And I say, I work a lot. I work six or seven days a week.

For me, writing is 75 percent procrastinating and 25 percent actually sitting down and working.

For any writers at all, read everything you can and then put your butt in the chair and write. That's all there is to it.

Every spare second I would write, somehow. On my lunch hour, too.

I think what I've recognized over the years is that I'm very, very bingey, extremely bingey when it comes to writing.

The point always is to be writing something - it leads to more writing.