Elizabeth McCracken Quotes

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

I like it to be quiet, and it usually occurs in the morning. There are three or four places in my house where I can write and I like to keep moving around. The moment I find myself falling into a necessary routine, I change it. I'd rather not accumulate superstitions.

I've always found it best to have a routine. I go to my study at the same time every day and climb into my bay window. I may not be inspired every day, but on the days I am, I need to be in place to write. If I'm not particularly inspired, I'll revise or do research or correspondence.

I write all the time, whether I feel like it or not. I never get inspired unless I'm already writing.

I try not to have too many rituals because I believe that rituals don't help you win. I used to do rituals a lot and it was crazy.

I go through periods where I work a great deal at all hours of the day whenever I am around a typewriter, and then I go through spells where I don't do anything. I just sort of have lunch - all day. I never have been able to stick to a schedule. I work when there is something due or when I am really excited about a piece.

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.

We go to the office every day when we're writing - or supposed to be writing. It's not always productive, and there's a lot of procrastinating, just staring at the wall, like any other writing. But we just make ourselves go to the office every day for more or less the whole day.

I spent a lot of my childhood moving around, so I was constantly adjusting to different environments and finding a new identity.

What if you get a job transfer? What if you lose your job? What if you have kids and you need a bigger home? Things change. You always have to be ready to roll with it.

We moved from place to place, and it was hard to adjust to different schools. But we made it.

To play with mobility is what matters.

I won't stay in Al Ain. I'm looking and listening for other options.

I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and seasonally lived in New Orleans and Boston. Given that this was all at a tender age, I imagine I was very impressionable. I was a kid that was always moving, city to city, school to school. I adapted easily wherever I was, I knew how to blend.

For the world is movement, and you cannot be stationary in your attitude toward something that is moving.

Unfortunately, I am not like a snail or a turtle, and I can't take my houses with me when I move.

Whenever commandments are given they create difficulties for people, because by the time they are given they are already out of date. Life moves so fast; it is a dynamism, it is not static. It is not a stagnant pool, it is a Ganges, it goes on flowing. It is never the same for two consecutive moments. So one thing may be right this moment, and may not be right the next. Then what to do? The only possible thing is make people so aware that they themselves can decide how to respond to a changing life.

I get bored very easily, so I love doing different things, changing, doing a job for a month and then doing another one for six months and then moving into a different group of people. I love being able to stop. That's one of the greatest benefits we have in our profession.

Honestly, my goals shift and change, as I move along.

I am definitely a Type-A, tidy, everything-has-a-place kind of person, so initially encouraging a mess was against my nature. But once you realize all the benefits, it's pretty simple to let that go.

You have to move forward. It's constantly changing. Everything changes and everything falls apart. You have to be nimble and on your toes and accessible to it all. Not everyone is on board with this.

If you are terribly truthful, the ground will always move from under you, and you will have to shift with the constantly shifting truth.

If you're rooted to a spot, you miss a lot of the grace. So you keep moving, and this is the way I think the world's stories should be told - from many different perspectives.

Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk-away from any open flames-to remind yourself that if you don't write daily, you will get rusty.

Born often under another sky, placed in the middle of an always moving scene, himself driven by the irresistible torrent which draws all about him, the American has no time to tie himself to anything, he grows accustomed only to change, and ends by regarding it as the natural state of man. He feels the need of it, more he loves it; for the instability; instead of meaning disaster to him, seems to give birth only to miracles all about him.