Jean M. Auel Quotes

What's the challenge in writing a novel that few people will read? I'm more than happy writing what I do and have no plans to change that.

That has to remain the principal reason for doing it, doesn't it? I know it's possible to write for money, and many very good writers have done so. But for me, it has to remain the principal thing that I actually want to do the writing.

The Term Paper Artist' represents two models of writing, one of the little boy bouncing his ball, generating stories for the sheer pleasure of it, and the besieged adult, writing to make a living, having to contend with a very competitive, very unreliable world in which public image counts.

A very wise author once said that a writer writes for himself, and then publishes for money. I write for myself and publish just for the reader.

On a more practical level, anyone out there who wants to be a writer should clearly recognize that this is a brutal business, where even incredibly talented people sometimes never make a living. If you want to chase such a dream, please have a Plan B in place.

I'd pretty much given up hope of being published, so I just wrote the book I wanted to read.

The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification of one's family and friends; and lastly, the solid cash.

My purpose is to entertain and please myself. I feel that if I am entertained, then there will be enough other readers who will be entertained, too.

I tend not to think about the reading public at all, or the business, when I'm writing.

Many writers can't make a living. So to be able to teach how to write is valuable to them. But I don't really know about its value to the student. I don't mean it's useless. But I wouldn't have wanted anyone to teach me how to write.

I'm so grateful to everyone who has bought a copy of 'Girl Online.' I love that so many of my viewers are enjoying the book!

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.

Screenplays I didn't really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to write about their dreams or something. I just determined to write the books I had to write.

When I write, I enjoy myself so much that what is being written really needs no reader.

A writer writes. Period. No matter if someone is buying your work or not.

The only real reason to write professionally is that you love it enough.

I write the books to amuse myself.

When I write, I don't think about messages for my readers.

I may not have become a good writer, but I managed to make a living out of writing.

I don't usually think of my writing as a 'challenge' because I enjoy the process so much. I suppose that's what's helped me to avoid 'writer's block' all these years.

A key to my thinking has always been the almost fanatical belief that what I was engaged in was a literary art form. That belief was compounded out of ego and necessity, I guess, a combination of the two.

Creative writing programmes are not very necessary. They just exist so that people like us can make a living.

I think there's only one reason to write in any genre or to any particular age group: You are called to it. You think it'd be fun.

I write and have done so primarily for personal pleasure.

If I didn't write, I'd be like a duvet cover; I have no other marketable skills. Clearly I'm not meant to do anything else.