Simon Toyne Quotes

When I was 30 or so - by that time I had become an assistant D.A. - I decided I would try to write a novel. To be clear: I did not decide to become a novelist. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that I could actually earn a living as a professional novelist.

The decision to write full time was made when I was twenty-eight years old and had just had two small plays accepted for BBC Radio.

It took seven years from the day I decided I wanted to write fiction to actually getting a book published.

I was one of those kids who never wanted to be anything but a novelist. And I don't know a lot of people who truly live the life that they dreamed of.

I had to wait for a long time before I could support myself with writing. However, being a writer is what I have most wanted to be, from the time I was a child.

Once I started getting paid to be a writer and not having lots of other gross responsibilities, like making the puzzle or whatever, then my ambition changed, and I thought, 'Now I want to be a good writer.' And that became my ambition.

Every 'Observer' writer wants to be a novelist.

I was always a keen reader. I jotted down one or two things, but it never occurred to me to think of a job in writing. I thought that writers were like demi-gods. I don't know what I thought.

I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.

I will try to write books until I drop dead.

I never wanted to be anything but a writer, and I never let go of it.

When I was about 14 or 15 I decided to become a writer and never for a moment since have I wanted to do anything else.

I always wanted to write, ever since I was a kid. I started writing at the age of 11. All I wanted to do was finish my education and have my nights free for writing.

I heard you had to get 200 rejections before you got published.

I've known since I was five that I wanted to be a writer.

I've always wanted to be a writer ever since I was in kindergarten, so that was ultimately what I wanted to do with my life.

I quit law in 1988 to start writing, and it took me 17 years from that point to get a book contract. I guess you can say I was on the slow train.

I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.

My relatives used to laugh when I talked of being a writer.

From the moment I wrote 'Leaf Storm' I realized I wanted to be a writer and that nobody could stop me and that the only thing left for me to do was to try to be the best writer in the world.

When I settled to writing seriously, which would be in my 30s, I did expect to be published eventually, but my aspirations weren't very high. A published book and a few appreciative readers was my idea of heaven.

I had a vision of myself as a novelist because that was where I could be serious. I couldn't with music.

If I did anything 'next', I would do writing.

I wrote for years before I was ever published, and I don't think I could ever stop. That said, I was also a veterinarian before I sold my first book, and I still volunteer my time to help with animal welfare causes. So that is a career I would be happy to return to - while still secretly writing strange stories back in my doctor's office.

I didn't do any writing seriously until I was in my mid-twenties. But I've never really thought of myself as doing anything else. I've always wanted to write.