Carmen Agra Deedy Quotes

Life throws up enough road blocks to keep you from writing; you can't be adding to them yourself by saying you can only write in one specific place. I'm in New York half the time and Texas half the time, and I work wherever - in my computer bag I have some foam ear plugs that I can put in.

No music. No rituals. At home I write in my office or on the laptop in the kitchen where our puppy likes to sleep, and I love his company. But I've trained myself to be able to work anywhere, and I write on trains, planes, in automobiles (if I'm not the driver), airports, hotel rooms. I travel often. If I couldn't write wherever I was I would get little done. I also can write in short bursts. Fifteen minutes are enough to move a story forward.

I have nothing like a writing routine. I sometimes have trouble buckling down to write at home.

I do indeed write on the road. My laptop goes with me everywhere.

I don't really have an office or anything, and I like to have to move location every two hours. So I just kind of write in a park, on a bench, in the library, in a cafe, back to the library, that kind of thing.

I write every day. I don't have a writing schedule. I write when I feel like it. Fortunately, I feel like it all the time. I am writing for hours. I do like to write in the morning. I start after breakfast, like 9 o'clock, and I'll write till lunch, about 1. And after lunch, I just have fun.

Working is actually a pleasure. It's just very time-consuming. It's a way of life. I find that I can work when I travel and work when I run. There is nothing like, on a rainy day, to work.

I write four books a year. I'm very fortunate that I write quickly; around 3,500 words a day. Being strict about delineating my writing time and personal life, as well as keeping distractions at bay, is the only way I can accomplish this.

I write pretty much when I can. I used to be very particular about needing certain conditions for writing, but when I had children, I discovered that I was a lot more flexible than I thought.

I write anywhere - when I have an idea, it's hard not to write. I used to be kind of precious about where I wrote. Everything had to be quiet and I couldn't be disturbed; it really filled my day.

You don't turn out as many books as I did then by sitting around, being cozy with the family.

But I can also write in crappy motel rooms, while standing in line, or sitting in the dentist's chair.

I work on my novels wherever I have a PC, and I have four or five places around the world where I do have a PC. These days you can just slip a little flash drive into your top pocket, fly for 12 hours, come to another place, plug it into a computer and you are away again.

I like changing the pace of my life, changing my discipline. It gives me ideas for how to see the world differently.

So much better to write pen on paper; you can do it anywhere, say, while stuck at the airport.

The secret to being a writer is that you have to write. It's not enough to think about writing or to study literature or plan a future life as an author. You really have to lock yourself away, alone, and get to work.

I write when the baby is asleep or when I'm on the road I write a lot... There's always time to do it. It's like getting exercise.

I used to only like writing with pen and paper, but because I travel so much, I started to lose the paper.

Even when I'm travelling - which is when I do most of my writing - I have a little portable keyboard.

Don't wait for the muse. She has a lousy work ethic. Writers just write.

If I have to write on an airplane or get up early to write or write late, you just gotta sit down. When you have the time, you have to be able to do it.

How much you discipline your mind to step out of its routines and look into new ways of doing things that you haven't yet adopted, is what will determine your economic potential.

I'm always open to new stuff. I don't sit and try to figure out what to do, I just wait for an idea to come.

I never stop working, I never stop creating. And I never sit around and wait for the industry to need me. I force the industry to want me by continuously creating what I do. And in this age of airplanes and Internet, it's not about where you are, it's more about what you do. But I travel every single day.

My way of working was different years ago. I used to wait until an idea came to me. Now I go half-way to meet it, though I don't know whether I find it any the quicker.