Gwen Ifill Quotes

Any fool can write a novel but it takes real genius to sell it.

When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it.

Kitchens are for conversation. They're not just for cooking; they're for conversations.

I meet people, and we can get past small talk pretty quickly if they've read my books. It's a great shortcut.

I meet people at book signings. My record now, for signing, is ten and a half hours in one sitting.

Talking, it seemed to me, was the point of adult existence.

When I decided I wanted to become an author, I never thought something I wrote would be used as a way to start conversations that are otherwise difficult to begin.

I love meeting new people.

Conversation is the most human and humanizing thing that we do.

For women, detailed conversation is our lifeblood, while for men it's just not as critical.

We want to encourage people to talk to one another.

I get up in the morning. I usually do a radio interview early in the morning. I usually do a book signing, because I'm also a cookbook author, so I'm at some store, at a Walmart or a Williams Sonoma, for three hours, standing up, signing autographs, and taking pictures for three hours.

It's hard enough to sit at a table and talk to most people as it is. But we can go to some town, and there's 300 people we've never met before, and by the third song, we're connecting with everyone in that room.

Nothing trumps good conversation.

Encourage people to mingle, meet, and communicate.

I like talking.

I like talking to anyone that will listen.

I don't think you really get to know a person until you talk to them.

I love signing the books; it's so exciting to see my readers in person.

Write a smart joke and people want to talk about it and keep the dialogue going. Also, if you can make someone laugh, it's a pronouncement that they like you on some level.

Audiences are my best friends. You never tire of talking with your best friends.

There's a lot about being "A Writer" that has nothing to do with writing. That's one thing I've discovered. You've got to meet with the sales force, and you've got to have all these luncheons, and be gracious, and you've got to give a lot of presentations and you've got to give a lot of speeches, and you've got to be on tour.

I do not enjoy the promotional side of being a writer, to be blunt about it. Even with the little amount that is expected of me, which is nothing compared to the life of an artist. Writers can live in obscurity and come out of the woodwork with a book, then go back in. Artists don’t have that luxury.

A river of words flowed between us.

But I wouldn't recommend writing. You can be a successful writer and never meet another soul. I'm not sure that's a good thing.