“If we learn not only to tell our stories but to listen to what our stories tell us—to write the first draft and then return for the second draft—we are doing the work of memory.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“For meaning is not "attached" to the detail by the memoirist; meaning is revealed.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“Seeking the congruence between stored image and hidden emotion—that's the real job of memoir.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“My narrative self (the culprit who invented) wishes to be discovered by my reflective self, the self who wants to understand and make sense of half-remembered moment.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new unde…”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“But it’s writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner. If you can take it seriously, we can do business. If you can’t or won’t, it’s time for you to close the book and do something else. Wash the car, maybe.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re done, you have to step back and look at the forest.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.”— Stephen King, amazon.com
“The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”— Stephen King, amazon.com