My childhood was surrounded by books and writing. From a very early age I was fascinated by storytelling, by the printed word, by language, by ideas. So I would seek them out.
From a very young age my mother persuaded me that I could write for fun, but I had to have a proper job - very good advice.
Night-time is when I brainstorm; last thing, when the family's asleep and I'm alone, I think about the next day's writing and plan a strategy for my assault on the blank page.
I get over a hundred letters a day from all over the world, from children and parents, and it's a wonder I ever have time to write books, let alone speak!
I'm not writing non-fiction. I don't feel anything about me as a kid was unique. Except that I had more interest in being alone and using my imagination.
The songs, if I write alone in a room, end up being a little more quiet, a little more subdued. If I play with other musicians or percussive instruments, it might end up being a little more upbeat.
When I write now I do not invent situation, characters, or actions, but rather structures and discursive forms, textual groupings which are combined according to secret affinities among themselves, as in architecture or the plastic arts.
I love doing normal things - movies, shopping, going out with friends, writing, reading, taking hot bubble baths - that's a big one for relaxation. I also love to go to art and history museums.
Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.
I'll have periods when I write and periods when I don't. But you don't want it to become a discipline, really. If it becomes a discipline, it becomes a chore, and that's no good. To make art you need to be inspired.
People assume that a lot of pop artists don't write their songs. That, for me, is super frustrating because I think it detracts from some of the art and some of the craft of what we do. I'm at the helm of it, and I think that is what people don't see...
Since I stopped writing, I read more than ever. Other people's words, not my own--my words are gone.
I want to write a poem about "Truth," "Honor," "Dignity," and whether the toilet paper should roll over or under when you pull on it.
Whenever I didn't know what to write next, I put a swift river in front of his horse and sent the two of them across!
It just happens to be the way that I'm made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.
Whenever I write a paragraph in English, I first check it with the Google Translator, and most often it says no language detected.
I don't think all writers are sad, she said. I think it's the other way around— all sad people write.
I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.
For my books, I do everything short of writing my own reviews. Those I do tall.
What model reader did I want as i was writing? An accomplice, to be sure, one who would play my game.
Do you write novels?" I said. "Novels, Lord no," she said. "I can't even stay married.
