Cary Fukunaga Quotes

A writer never finds the time to write. A writer makes it. If you don't have the drive, the discipline, and the desire, then you can have all the talent in the world, and you aren't going to finish a book.

I'm mature enough to understand I can find time to do other things without disturbing my focus for basketball.

The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way you would never do anything.

I would never finish a painting if I didn't have a deadline.

The thing with making your art your business is: It's a business. You can't sit around waiting for the muse, especially when you run a show, and you're in production, and an outline is due, a script is due, and a reshoot is due. No. You look at the calendar, and you go, 'OK. I can write from 4 to 6.' So you write.

Getting up early is one of the gifts I give myself.

The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn't go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him.

All the uncontrollable and unpredictable parts of my life - from the actual creation to my emotional responses to the finished book - I've succeeded in banishing to the office. And I think I'm happier for it.

If I was a little bit younger I would worry more. I'd want to do one thing at a time but now I try to do a bunch of different things at a time if I can.

On a regular basis if you're trying to produce something, I think you should work every day and set achievable goals.

The habits of study in which I have been brought up have done much to support me. I never allow myself to be one moment unoccupied.

I'm a morning person because I learned to write my novels while still practicing law. I would get to the office at 6:30 a.m. and write until other people arrived, around 9. Now I still do that. I start at 6:30 or 7, and I'll write until 11, then take an hour off, then work until about 2 p.m. By then my brain has had enough.

I don't feel I'm a compulsive person. I multitask. I'm really well-organised, and I have lots of people to help me.

I can do a book in three months if I spend all day, seven days a week at it and, in fact, I work better that way.

I would teach from nine to four, sleep an hour, and write from six until midnight, night after night.

My mother was a pediatrician, and she kept busy hours. I learned from her you could pack a lot into the day. Every minute had to count, and multitasking was a given.

I came from a poor family, so working and going to school at the same time was natural. It taught me multi-tasking, although we didn't call it that back then. I learned I could never be idle, I need to be doing many things at once.

The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.

I discovered that the best thing for me was to be very busy all the time. I can get a lot done, and I can do those tasks well.

Going from idea to production is a huge hurdle. It took me a while to overcome it. It's basically all about self discipline, right?

I like to work and it kind of keeps me in line, which is very good because I need that structure.

The hardest part is making the time to write. Not finding the time to write, mind you. Making.

I'm not a person who would get up at 5 A.M. to write, but I could sacrifice my Friday night and just order in dinner, sit at home and get into it.

With both acting and ballet, often you can't just choose when you do it, whereas a painter can go at his own pace.

I'm very competitive with myself. I'm a scheduler.