Ken Liu Quotes

I have great ideas, but the follow through is always really difficult for me. As my kid gets a little bit older, if I feel like I have a little bit more time on my hands, I'd like to get more into developing ideas and writing things.

I think it takes a lot of desire because I think a lot of people who've never written books don't know quite how hard it is to stick with, to put in the amount of time and just make the commitment to just sit there every day and do it while everybody else is out having fun.

I remember how I would wait for a play idea. I wasted a tremendous amount of time. I didn't realize that ideas could be made into movies or novels.

Either I need an assignment with a strict deadline - like something for a movie or a TV show or whatever - or else I need to create a made-up deadline for myself for my own records. Otherwise, I don't write anything.

I don't procrastinate because I love the English language and the process of storytelling, and I'm always curious to see what will come to me next. If you procrastinate a lot, you might be one who loves having written, but doesn't so much like writing.

If you'd have asked me two years ago, I'd have been like "No, anything and everything. Go for it." Now, I want to focus on doing the best I can each time. But I think it's hard for me to only put out one record a year. Because I get too antsy. But it's good I'm learning to do that, because each record counts. And you should make it count.

I hear people say they're going to write. I ask, when? They give me vague statements. Indefinite plans get dubious results. When we're concrete about our writing time, it alleviates that thin constant feeling of anxiety that writers have - we're barbecuing hot dogs, riding a bike, sailing out in the bay, shopping for shoes, even helping a sick friend, but somewhere nervously at the periphery of our perception we know we belong somewhere else - at our desk!

I think I've realized that when you are aiming to create a real body of work, you are as much defined by the things you don't do as by the things you do.

The hardest part about writing fiction is finding long stretches of time to do it: for me, this means writing mostly on Saturdays and Sundays. But I am always thinking about my characters, jotting down ideas in stolen moments and hoping I'll be able to make sense of them when the weekend rolls around.

Learn to say 'no' to the good so you can say 'yes' to the best.

I write pretty much year-round, but I definitely do more when a deadline is looming.

I know what I'm going to write for the next three years. It's frustrating, because if I get a good new idea, I have to put it aside.

I make time to write.

This is the key to time management - to see the value of every moment.

I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.

I always have a story in my head that needs to be written, or at least I think I do. But I usually can't find the time to write it.

I might be into writing... I'd like to try it someday. I always come up with some good ideas.

I tend to have an endless number of ideas for writing projects. I don't necessarily say that as a good thing. Maybe it's a good thing, but I have ideas for all kinds of projects: contemporary novels, graphic novels, anything that happens to go through my mind.

The whole business of marshaling one's energies becomes more and more important as one grows older.

Here's the secret to finishing that first book. Don't rewrite as you go.

When I was bringing up a child, I taught myself to write in very short, concentrated bursts. If I had a weekend, or a week, I'd do unbelievable amounts of work.

I have an ideas book at home with far more ideas than I will ever be able to write.

It takes a lot of energy and a lot of neurosis to write a novel. If you were really sensible, you'd do something else.

I'm a great believer in gathering together all your obsessions and seeing if you can make a novel out of them.

You have to be practical. So every time I say, if you want to write a novel you have to be practical, people get bored. They are disappointed. They are expecting a more dynamic, creative, artistic thing to say. What I want to say is: you have to be practical.