5th July 2016 | for Creatives | reading, the successful artist, writing, KEEP CREATING, publishing, Laurie Halse Anderson, the creative life |
"Use that time for writing your novel and for reading great books. That will make your chances of getting published much stronger than any Facebook post ever will."
"When it comes to Internet platforms and writing websites, Anderson is blunt with her views, advising writers to replace online surfing with a writing practice."
"People always look for excuses. .... When I got started in the book business, I received 900 rejection letters. So you don’t look at the end result—at the Richard Bransons and Maria Popovas—and say, 'Well they have that thing that I don't.' They got that thing by showing up. I am really focused on helping people understand that not showing up is a failure of will more than it is a failure of birth."
"You've got to go, 'No, I can't come into work on the weekends—[that's] when I work on my novel.' ... People deserve those dreams, and they have to fight for them. You don't want to be at the end of your life and go, 'I met all the obligations people had for me.'"
"What I try to emphasize to beginning writers is what Jim [James] Rollins said to me once: 'It takes time.' And what I've come to realize is, he didn't mean time chronologically. He meant it takes time to build up your portfolio of books and then for one of those books to hit."
"Newsflash: nobody has the time to write a novel except established novelists. And even then you'd be surprised how easily life intrudes."
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