Philip Pullman Quotes

There's no writer's block; there's only distraction.

I think I write or publish as much as I do because I can bear being without a book to work on. But routinely when I finish a book, I think, "What will I do? Where will I get an idea?" And a kind of low-level panic sets in. And then eventually something happens. I don't know. If I knew how it happened I would repeat the process, but I don't know - something just occurs to me.

Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I ­always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something.

I feel like I have a lot of novel ideas, but they often come up while I'm already in the process of working on a book. You have to watch out with the slutty new idea.

If you're going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.

I am a person of high energy. That, and I sit down and I write when I get an idea - I put other things aside.

When you get an idea, go and write. Don't waste it in conversation.

We have this idea that we need to be in the mood to write. We don't.

I wake up sometimes with an idea and then I write it down. It's not necessarily easy, but when you focus on something it comes.

I don't generally listen to music while working, but sometimes music can help me get past minor writer's block.

I listen to music constantly while writing.

I often find that having an idea in my head prevents me from doing something else. Working is therefore a way of getting rid of an idea.

I try to stay focused on my creativity.

Successful writers say you should never work from a desk with a view, and the view I have from this one is a huge distraction. There's a garden bursting with fresh vegetation, and just beyond the high wall at the end of it, I can see the sign of the local pub across the road. Distractions, eh? I'm so easily led.

A writer who isn't writing is asking for trouble.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

I couldn't understand why my productivity went down when I had deliberately made more time available to write. Then I realized it was because I wasn't flying as much.

I don't believe in writer's block.

I would worry if I wasn't coming up with ideas, if I wasn't inspired.

I come up with more ideas when I'm on the road, but I don't get to finish them. I don't get to fully flush them out because I'm so busy on the road. I'm very all over the place, but I'm definitely most creative when I'm out here.

A manuscript under way always gave me something to do; only while enduring the aimlessness between books was I truly glum.

One day, I can come up with 50 content ideas, and I'm like, 'Boom, I want to do this idea, this idea, this idea.' I have a YouTube notebook, and I write them all down. Then other days, I'm like, 'I have no clue what I want to do today.' I rarely have days like that.

When we sit down to work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.

But the writing life, it turned out, was difficult. It wasn't like you could sit down and flip a switch and crank on the ventilation system. Sometimes it didn't work, and sometimes you couldn't even find the switch.

I gotta pound the keys for the ideas to flow.