Mary Karr Quotes

Sometimes I panic and think I can't really write.

I'm so terrified to write that I don't type at all.

Writing is inherently scary.

I find writing very difficult. It's hard and it hurts sometimes, and it's scary because of the fear of failure and the very unpleasant feeling that you may have reached the limit of your abilities.

I was always afraid to write music.

I think that most writers who wait until they're inspired to write are just waiting for the fear to subside.

I'm intimidated every day I go on the stage and everyday I go on a movie set. It's terrifying and I always want to reshoot the first day or the first week, I'm so terrified.

I always had a superstitious fear of setting up a too well-designed writing place and then finding that the writing had absconded.

If you're a writer, you're constantly doubting yourself.

In a certain sense, every time you sit down to write a song, there's a fear that you've forgotten how to do it.

Anybody who tells you they're not scared when starting a new book project is a very good liar.

All my life, I've been frightened at the moment I sit down to write.

You never get over the fear of writing.

I've never had a writer's block, but still I think: 'Is it going to happen this time?' You never know what you're going to get; you just put your fingers on the keys and hope.

I think every writer doubts themselves, every day. You procrastinate because you're afraid. You're always afraid it's not going to be as good as you want it to be. But, the key is overcoming fear.

I don't write well when I'm sitting there sweating about every single phrase.

I was kind of scared of failing at acting.

For a long time I managed to think two things simultaneously, that I am actually a good playwright, and that the next time I write a play I will be revealed as someone who is no good at all.

Every single time I start to do a picture, without fail, I feel as if I don't know what I'm doing.

Words can't describe how one would feel in that moment after doing a test for something you really want but in your heart you don't think you have a chance of getting.

I'd be far too self-conscious and insecure if I suspected my editor might be a better novelist than I.

I get nervous about everything. I think there's something wrong if you don't get nervous.

When it comes time to sit down and write the next book, you're deathly afraid that you're not up to the task. That was certainly the case with me after Snow Falling on Cedars.

As a writer, you live in permanent self-doubt; you're on permanent trial.

No matter how many awards you've won or how many sales you've got, come the next book it's still a blank sheet of paper and you're still panicking like hell that you've got nothing new to say.