Barack Obama Quotes

Basically, I am a night owl. My wife is an early bird, so she goes to bed around 9:30, and my kids are in bed about 8. So, if I am home, I will usually start writing about 9:30 and go till about 12:30 or 1:30, depending on what my energy level is.

I usually don't write at night, but there are times where I wake up at 3 in the morning and write all night.

I would go to work from 9 to 6, go home, nap for two hours, then write from 8 to 2 a.m.

Serving in Congress has been the honor of a lifetime.

Being a member of Congress is a hard job but it's an uplifting job.

I don't really start writing until later in the night. I'm a night owl.

I write from seven to about noon. I used to try to write longer, but I read and I found that I was always getting myself tired by working in the afternoon and then I was just throwing out what I wrote in the afternoon, so writing then was counterproductive.

A really good day for me is to write my book for about four hours, go to the writing room for about four hours and then maybe come back to the book to finish the day for a few more hours of it.

Try, start always at home. This is my encouragement to all writers, start at home. All virtues and vices begin at home, and then spread abroad.

I do my best writing between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.. Almost every friend I have who is a consistently productive writer, does their best writing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. My quota is two crappy pages per day. I keep it really low so I'm not so intimidated that I never get started. I will do the gathering of interviews and research throughout the day. I'll get all my notes and materials together and then I'll do the synthesis between 10 p.m. to bed, which is usually 4 or 5 a.m.

Try to develop actual work habits, and even though you have a busy life, try to reserve an hour, say - or more - a day to write. Some very good things have been written on an hour a day.

I never would start writing before midnight and I would finish at, like, seven in the morning.

I can write pretty much anywhere if you give me time and some quiet. The home is not usually the best place because I have four children. It's usually pandemonium around here!

The nice thing about writing at home is that it's almost as though I'm doing it already. I get out of bed thinking of my work, and I don't have to go anywhere to do it.

I really enjoyed my time in state government. I thought we made a difference. I liked being a part of that effort. I had a different experience in Washington.

I write fifteen hours a day, stopping at Oprah-o'clock.

My grandfather was a politician and lived in Washington, D.C., so as a kid, I used to go to D.C. every other weekend.

I've made no secret that although I loved being a legislator, I particularly loved being a chief executive.

I write about six to seven hours a day, five days a week, unless I'm traveling.

For writing, I get up early in the morning - 5 o'clock, 4:30. I'm a morning person... So I try to do it while people are asleep. The mornings are the nicest.

I spent three years working at the White House and wanted to do something that wasn't about passing bills and resolutions.

When you make a decision to write according to a set schedule and really stick to it, you find yourself writing very fast. At least I do.

The only way to find out if you can write is to set aside a certain period every day and try. Save enough money to give yourself six months to be a full-time writer. Work every day and the pages will pile up.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, I didn't do any press, I didn't do any meetings, I just wrote all day, 'cause I'd meet, via Skype, with the creative team, at five p.m., and then I would have my seven o'clock curtain.

The first thing you have to know about writing is that it is something you must do every day - every morning or every night, whatever time it is that you have. Ideally, the time you decide on is also the time when you do your best work.