Marian Keyes Quotes

It's a phobia I have. I never assume I'm going to be able to write another album after I finish one.

For a long time I managed to think two things simultaneously, that I am actually a good playwright, and that the next time I write a play I will be revealed as someone who is no good at all.

Writers, at least writers of fiction, are always full of anxiety and worry.

Every writer I've ever spoken to feels fraudulent in some way or other.

I always think the insecurity is going to go away, but it's always there. Only bad writers think they're good.

If you're a writer, you're constantly doubting yourself.

I've got to overcome that tendency to hide what I write or throw it away.

Every writer knows that unless you were born gifted with either supreme confidence or outsize ego, handing in your work holds, in some cases, admitted terror. If that's too strong, at least fairly high anxiety.

Writers displace their anxiety on to the tools of the trade. It's better to say that you haven't got the right pencil than to say you can't write, or to blame your computer for losing your chapter than face up to your feeling that it's better lost.

I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.

As a writer, you live in permanent self-doubt; you're on permanent trial.

No matter how many awards you've won or how many sales you've got, come the next book it's still a blank sheet of paper and you're still panicking like hell that you've got nothing new to say.

If you make your living writing, and you can't write anything, it's over. It's very frightening.

My verses stand gawping a bit. I never get used to this. They've lived here long enough.

I think if you spend much time dwelling on influence you can get self-conscious about every line you write. That's a great way to freeze up.

In my case, the long gaps between my books have got quite a lot to do with lack of confidence. A lot of the time when I'm not writing I start thinking I can't do it.

The essential truth is that sometimes you're worried that they'll find out it's a fluke, that you don't really have it. You've lost the muse or - the worst dread - you never had it at all. I went through all that madness early on.

You always feel like a hack and a fraud when you're writing. It's just how it goes.

For years, when I was popular, I would face the blank page to write, and I couldn't think of anything that I thought was good enough.

If I had to write a novel, I'd start crying after three lines.

I'm certainly afraid of not being able to write for some reason. I guess I've had spells of not necessarily writer's block, but something like that. I find that pretty terrifying.

I think I'm a good joke writer. I'm also very scared that the last joke I wrote is the last joke I'll ever write.

The fact is that blank pages inspire me with terror. What will I put on them? Will it be good enough? Will I have to throw it out?

You never get over the fear of writing.

Writers always have confidence issues - it comes with the territory. We never know where we fit in, or what the actual value of our work might be. So we hit lulls, or slogs. Throw in the idea that many creative people are somewhat manic-depressive, and it can get pretty dark at times.