Michael Dirda Quotes

Always I'm working on some of book. That's the way I make a living.

What I enjoy about reviewing and writing for newspapers and periodicals is simply the chance to talk about all kinds of books and lots of them.

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.

Literature has become my life.

I'm a novelist, that's how I make my livelihood, and I concentrate on the novels.

I am a book reviewer. I write for a glossy magazine called 'SCI FI.' The money is not life-changing, but it's a low-stress gig. Publishers send me their books. More than I could possibly read. I pick a few and write about them, put a very few others on the shelf, to be perused at my leisure, someday.

I think technique can be taught but I think the only way to learn to write is to read, and I see writing and reading as completely related. One almost couldn't exist without the other.

I'm a schoolteacher and a writer. So that's what I do.

I did some film reviews for small papers in Finland and things like that to be able to keep living here.

As a writer, I'm always aware of the fact that there are so many books out there.

My passion has always been books and literature, and teaching.

You learn to write by reading, and my experiences and tastes as a reader are pretty wide.

As a writer, you write the book, you give it to your editor, it's copy edited, it's published, it's thrown out there, and then there's a response.

Everybody makes money for a living, but most of us actually do something that has a point, in addition to just making money. We examine and treat patients, we teach students, we draw up contracts and wills, we write for newspapers, magazines, and web sites, we clean floors, or we serve meals.

I realized early on that being an author is a hugely misunderstood job. Because there are no pay grades and very little structure, people make interesting assumptions about the profession.

I was working for Time-Life Books from 1962 to 1970, as a staff writer, and after that, I was a journalist. Eventually, I became an editor at 'The Saturday Review' and 'Horizon.'

I'm a writer. I've been a journalist for my whole adult life.

I'm not sure if you can strive your way into a career as a novelist. You have to write books; there are no short cuts.

I've found that writers who don't read really can't write.

Writing nonfiction of various kinds has been instructive and entertaining as well as paying the rent.

The biggest kick is reading something new and exciting and then getting other people to share your enthusiasm. Beyond all the cant and hypocrisy in publishing, that's what it's all about.

We're not just writers; we're readers probably more than anything else. That's how you learn how to write and how you learn to appreciate good writing: by reading.

I spend 99 percent of my time writing.

We all have our notions of sport. If I'd wanted to make my living climbing mountains, I wouldn't have gone into publishing. Most of the time, you're sitting in a dark room reading a manuscript.

Most writers want to share their essay or book much too quickly. Those who accept the pain of hard work and revising are those who get published.