James Patterson Quotes

Write for pleasure and publish for money.

One thing I really want to explore is writing.

I've written a lot of prose. I just haven't published it.

I sit with the intention to write a record.

When you write a book, you're an expert, and people look at you in a different way.

I have been writing since I was a kid and thought what I wrote down could one day be made into a book.

Writing is hard work. But if you want to become a writer you will become one. Nothing will stop you.

Ironically, writing a novel is not a way to sort out your confusion.

Write what you want to read. So many people think they need to write a particular kind of book, or imitate a successful style, in order to be published. I've known people who felt they had to model their book on existing blockbusters, or write in a genre that's supposed to be "hot right now" in order to get agents and publishers interested. But if you're writing in a genre you don't like, or modeling yourself on a book you don't respect, it'll show through. You're your first, most important reader, so write the book that reader really wants to read.

The truth is I tried to write for years and I wasn't very good.

I love writing. I've always written journals. I loved writing the book on living alone.

My advice to would-be young authors is to read a lot, write a lot, and not worry about creating a finished product. Keeping a journal is not a bad idea either.

I remember liking to write stories pretty early on. In fourth or fifth grade, they would give us the beginning of a story, and we were supposed to finish it. I remember liking that. But I didn't think about deciding to become a writer until high school at about the age of 16.

Writing is my number one passion. I've written two novels. I've written a screenplay. I also write short stories and poetry.

For many years I wanted to be a rock star but of course that didn't work out. I did however write on napkins and pieces of paper sentences and occurrences. I decided maybe I should write a book because I had been writing so much. I'm actually writing a book based on The Room that will hopefully be published soon.

I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is.

I'm far less a leader than a writer.

If you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you.

I go on writing so that I will always have something to read.

I wrote as a teenager, and once I started acting, you know, you're learning lines, you're doing other people's words, it takes up a lot of time. Especially if you're dedicated to what you're doing, you're trying to do a decent job at it. But I would have said to myself, "Write more, please."

I want to be a writer, not an engineer who writes books.

I've always liked to write, but I never thought I could make a career out of it. I went to business school because in the '80, it was the thing to do. I thought that marketing was a way to be creative in business, but quickly learned all creative stuff happens at the ad agency.

If what you want to do is write, then it's madness not to do it.

I carry around a little journal with me, a little notebook and a pen and just write all the time. Not necessarily actually sitting down and writing lyrics, just free-form writing, whatever's going on in my mind.

Write," he said. "I'll write to you as soon as I get there," answered Julian. "No. Not to me. Write books. Not letters. Write them for me, for Penelope.