Ali Liebegott Quotes

Naturally, it was easier for me to envision becoming a novelist than it is for most people. I had two great in-house teachers; I had parents who considered a career in the arts a real possibility rather than a dreamy arrow shot into the sky.

There's nobody in the arts in my family. It was kind of embarrassing to even say that I wanted to be an actor.

I think my parents recognised that I'd always wanted to be a writer, and so they didn't think that this was some idle, faddish wish on my part.

When I was a child, writing was the worst possible choice of a career in my family. My father had always identified himself as a writer to my mother when they met. When they met, he was writing this great novel, there was no doubt about it.

I always wanted to be a writer, from being a little kid onwards. My dad and my mum both had phases when that was what they did.

I really wanted to make it as a ballet dancer to make my mom proud. But it didn't happen.

My aunt could never understand how writing could be a full-time job. She'd keep asking when I'd get a real job!

I didn't think being a writer was a fancy thing. It was a job like any other job, except apparently you could do it at home.

I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl - long before I was a musician and a songwriter.

Dad never understood why Ridley wanted to go to art school, and then I came along six years later and wanted to do the same thing.

I think everyone assumes that I talk to my parents a lot about writing, but I didn't - they're my parents. We didn't have constant workshops running in my household.

It took me 40 years to write my first book. When I was a child, I was encouraged to go to school. I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death.

My father was the editor of an agricultural magazine called 'The Southern Planter.' He didn't think of himself as a writer. He was a scientist, an agronomist, but I thought of him as a writer because I'd seen him working at his desk. I just assumed that I was going to do that, that I was going to be a writer.

I've wanted to be a writer since I was seven, but I didn't grow up in family where people aspired to live as writers.

In the family, writing wasn't anything anyone understood - being a writer in the real world? How could it be? We didn't have those mirrors.

I guess, when I left university, I liked the idea of being a writer, and I thought then that being a writer really meant that you were a novelist. But if one of the impulses for being a novelist is wanting to be a storyteller, I never had any urge to tell stories.

I think a lot of people assume you need to be born into a special creative family to have a career as a writer. So I never thought it would happen for me.

Dad and Mom were frustrated artists - Dad wanted to study engineering or architecture and Mom wanted to be an actress - but the world was a different place when they were young so Dad became a public works foreman and Mom became a stay-at-home mom. When I said I wanted to be a writer, they were thrilled. They did everything in their power to support me.

While pursuing engineering, my passion for theatre grew. So, I told dad I wanted to pursue acting - 'Do you really want to be an actor or are you drawn to the glamour?' he asked. I convinced him of my passion and applied to film schools.

It took me a really long time to finally feel good about saying, 'Yes, I'm an actor. I chose to do this. I'm doing this.'

Hopefully, if I get enough of a fan army together, people will let me write fiction.

I was too shy to be in films. But, my father thought it would work for me. It took a lot of time for me to think about getting into films.

I respect and admire my family, but they've never expected me to walk in their footsteps.

I've never, ever set my sights on getting 100 - it's more my family. My dad's been counting down the caps for every single home game, and he's been to every single one I've played in England.

If I truly had the courage of my convictions, I would be a full-blown comic novelist.