Curtis Sittenfeld Quotes

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

Though The Kite Runner was my first completed novel, I had been writing on and off for most of my life, primarily short stories, and primarily for myself.

When I want to read a novel, I write one.

I know I'll keep writing poems. That's the constant. I don't know about novels. They're hard. It takes so much concentrated effort. When I'm writing a novel it's pretty much all I can do. I get bored. It takes months. Movies do the same thing. It's all-encompassing. It feels like I'm going to end up writing poems, short stories and screenplays.

I'm writing books. They're still a mix of fact and fiction and will continue to be. I think it's an interesting place to work.

The desire to write a novel is the single required prerequisite for writing a novel.

Writing a novel is a lot like reading one.

Some people play the piano, some do Sudoku, some watch television, some people go out to dinner parties. I write books.

I love to write. I write everything across the board - kids' stories and novels and scripts. I actually would like to give that a go; I'd like to try to be a writer.

I know I'm not a wordsmith. And I don't write poetry. Sometimes I think I should, because it's really helpful. But I always wanted to write novels.

I think I would like to write screenplays, books, really anything.

I gave up writing children's books. I wanted to escape from them as I had once wanted to escape from 'Punch': as I have always wanted to escape. In vain.

I want to write books.

If I had my druthers, I wouldn't have anyone's words in my script but my own, but if you want complete autonomy, just stick to novels.

Yes, writing a novel, my boy, is like driving pigs to market - you have one of them making a bolt down the wrong lane; another won't get over the right stile.

The best way to write a novel is to do it behind your own back.

I had a series of terrible jobs, whatever would allow me to write for four hours during the day. During that time I wrote three novels - all of which were extraordinarily poor. I decided after that to go and get my MFA.

On the whole, stories don't write themselves.

You can't write ... on the strength of influence. You can only write a good story or a good novel by yourself.

Eventually writing became more interesting to me than acting.

Then I decided I would spend the summer writing a novel. That would fix a lot of people.

Books are great for if you want to work on the craft of writing for yourself, or, you know, to write novels or indie films, stuff like that.

I always wanted to write. While I was on a long surf trip, supporting myself with various day jobs, I was working hard on a novel. My third novel, in fact.

This is where I begin to do the writing. I am now going to be the pen and not the paper.

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.