Marcia Muller Quotes

If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.

Once I decide to do something, I can't have people telling me I can't. If there's a roadblock, you jump over it, walk around it, crawl under it.

I'm not one of these 'the characters write themselves; the story just fell out of me' kind of writers. Wish it was like that.

Plot is not my forte. It's like I have to live in my head in the book for a while before I figure out what the story is... My process is a bit messier.

I don't remember ever having writer's block. If I sit in there for four hours, I'll usually have something.

Writing a nonfiction story is like cracking a safe. It seems impossible at the beginning, but once you're in, you're in.

When I write I just keep a waste paper basket handy in case I am experiencing a block.

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.

The only reason I have the career I have is that I didn't quit.

Whatever you attempt, go at it with spirit.

What do I do when writing isn't going well? Well, I don't write - which is symptom, cure, and cause. And then sometimes I just tell myself, as I'm writing, "I'll fix it later." And sometimes it's true, I do.

Perseverance is not a passive submission to circumstances-it is a strong and active response to the difficult events of life.

Know that every time you feel weak, you not only hurt yourself but also the cause. Infinite faith and strength are the only conditions of success.

I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up.

Entrepreneurs don't finish when we are tired. We finish when we are done.

Every story teaches me how to write it. Unfortunately, it doesn't teach me how to write the next one.

No one ever achieved a goal by being interested in its achievement. One must be committed. In fact, in studying the source of people's success, I've found that persistence overshadows even talent as the most valued and effective resource in creating and shaping the quality of life. Most people give up a maddening five feet from their goal!

What courage and patience are wanted for every life that aims to produce anything!

I don't remember what script it was, but at the Monday table read, the [opening] teaser didn't work.We went back and had to think of a new teaser, and [after] four hours, five hours, we weren't landing on anything.And it was probably Glen [Charles] who said, "What are we, cowards?" You had to do it, no matter how long it took.

I was taught that everything is attainable if you are prepared to give up, to sacrifice, to get it. Whatever you want to do, you can do it, if you want it badly enough . . .

Beginning a novel is always hard. It feels like going nowhere. I always have to write at least 100 pages that go into the trashcan before it finally begins to work. It's discouraging, but necessary to write those pages. I try to consider them pages -100 to zero of the novel.

You can accomplish anything with pure persistence and drive.

I have seldom written a story, long or short, that I did not have to write and rewrite. There are single stories of mine that have taken me ten or twelve years to get written.

You really have to focus on what you're doing and just plow ahead no matter what hurdles are thrown in front of you.

It's hard work, writing, you know. Honestly, a fight every day against your own limitations. You have to squeeze books out of your brain, you're constantly trying to solve challenges. I think most writers enjoy the feeling of having written something, rather than the process of writing it.