I have rewritten — often several times — every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.
I think probably the thing I'm worst at is the most ephemeral stuff, like blogs. I find it really hard to write. And I'm often been asked to write columns for papers in Peru. And I can't. I would die. There's no way I could write a column.
Writing is the hardest physical work there is.
In fact, I spent 25 years as a reporter, swearing I would never become an editor. Sitting at a desk, watching other people go out and find the story, and then fussing with other people's words - I just didn't get the appeal of that.
Words have to be crafted, not sprayed. They need to be fitted together with infinite care.
I'm a writer more than I am a talker.
Writing is my favorite part of the job.
I always craft my words to the point where I think and hope they're perfect before I ever begin sketching.
Writing is a workout, just like going for a run!
You've probably never thought about it before unless you happen to write for a living, but professional writers are doomed to spend most of their waking hours sitting by themselves at a desk, staring at a blank computer screen and waiting for lightning to strike.
In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write.
I rewrite a great deal. I'm always fiddling, always changing something. I'll write a few words - then I'll change them. I add. I subtract. I work and fiddle and keep working and fiddling, and I only stop at the deadline.
The act of writing surprises me all the time. A miraculous thing happens when you have an idea and you want to convert it into words... and then you start to create a work of art, and that's another miracle, and it remains mysterious to the writer, or to this writer anyway.
Grab a pen and put down some words - your name even - and a title: something to see, to revise, to carve, to do over in the opposite way
Writing is a chore.
Writing is a solitary profession; you are really alone when you write. Then the emotions become well shaped and distinct. But their transition into words must be done deliberately and with rigid artistry.
Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.
Writing is tough. It's insanely obsessive work.
Writing has become my great joy - I simply love it.
Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it, putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before.
Writing is a lonely process.
Honestly, I find writing to be a very lonely job.
Writers are just like other people, except slightly more obsessed.
Writing, by nature, is a fairly solitary occupation.
I love writing and I just sit at my keyboard and write.
