Joy Williams Quotes

I've always felt that there's a point where a piece seems to be alive, that is, living. And that's the point where I know the composition is finished.

Whatever it is that I thirst for in my current project tends to turn up in my following project.

Very rarely is there any confusion as to when a painting or a song is finished. You just know when it's done.

I think audiences are quite comfortable watching something coming into being.

Oftentimes when you see adaptations of books you like, you're let down. As an author, you assume that they are going to suck. A little bit of hope is dangerous.

When you do a record like 'Talk,' and you're happy with it, and it reaches your ambitions and then doesn't sell as well as you wanted, it kind of takes the wind out of your sails a little.

Human relations, I mess them up, and they let me down.

I'm always a bit disappointed when I've finished working on a book.

The people that were invested in me staying the same way after a decade will most likely by default have to be disappointed.

You know, a song is like a kid. You bring it up. And sometimes something you thought was going to be fantastic, by the time it's finished, is a bit of a disappointment.

People always say a script will be 'brought to life in a magical way,' but for me that has been proven wrong time and time again.

When I finish a painting, it usually looks as surprising to me as to anyone else.

When you've finished a piece of work you've had a kind of love affair with it.

Books and movies are never finished, only surrendered.

I enjoy producing because the show becomes your baby.

The different bodies of my work end themselves when there's no more discovery to be had.

An artist's career always begins tomorrow.

I suspect that writers and other creators are never really finished with any work.

For me, being a writer, you want to communicate with people, but if your goal is that every person is going to love what you do, then you're always going to be disappointed.

Art is not the kind of thing where you get what you put into it all the time. So I learned to not expect anything other than the sort of joy of having a poem in front of me.

People are entitled to their friendships, and we're all entitled to be disappointed by our friends when they disappoint us.

Just knowing you're putting something out there that could take on a greater life - that's our sweet spot. That's what we try to do.

That's one of the great things about creativity. You labor away in a room, and when you're writing a film, it couldn't be more of a solitary activity or a lonelier job, but if you then write a film that gets made and goes out into the world, it kind of flies away from you. It's not yours anymore.

Writing is, of course, a solitary occupation. But for many writers, myself included, it's through writing that we make certain vital connections.

Sometimes it's just enough for me to have the idea. I don't need to see it through to the end. When it actually happens, I'm always disappointed because it's never like what I imagined in my head. When an idea becomes a reality, then it's a job. I'd rather just think about it.