Octavia E. Butler Quotes

Writing doesn't come easily to me. It gets more and more difficult.

I find writing really difficult - definitely the most difficult of all the things I do.

Let's face it, writing is hell.

Each time, I think I'm never going to write another book. It never gets easier.

I find writing really hard, but then, every author I know finds writing really hard work.

Writing has never been that simple for me.

Writing is not fun.

Every writer I know has trouble writing.

I huff and puff and struggle with every sentence, paragraph and page - sometimes every word as well.

Writing never came naturally and I still have to force my hand to do it.

Yeah, writers do hate writing.

Writing has got to be some of the hardest work I know.

I envy people who write easily. I enjoy the process, but it's not easeful for me.

I find writing very difficult. It's hard and it hurts sometimes, and it's scary because of the fear of failure and the very unpleasant feeling that you may have reached the limit of your abilities.

I have a problem with beginnings... and endings... and middles. But I don't know what else I would do. I find it very, very difficult to write. It takes everything; it's physically and mentally and emotionally exhausting for me. And my neighbours. And my dog.

The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.

There's a danger in romanticizing what it means to be a writer. Because what it really means is hard, hard work. It means tearing your hair out. Feeling like your head is about to explode.

Anybody who likes writing a book is an idiot. Because it's impossible; it's like having a homework assignment every stinking day until it's done. And by the time you get it in, it's done and you're sitting there reading it, and you realize the 12,000 things you didn't do. I mean, writing isn't fun. It's never been fun.

Writing is agony for me. I work at it eight hours every day, hoping to get six pages, but I am satisfied with three.

I hated being a novelist when I was 20 - I had nothing to write about.

It wasn't that I couldn't write. I wrote every day. I actually worked really hard at writing. At my desk by 7 A.M., would work a full eight and more. Scribbled at the dinner table, in bed, on the toilet, on the No. 6 train, at Shea Stadium. I did everything I could. But none of it worked.

I wish I could write easily. I'm one of those guys who's visited by the muse when things are dire.

Writing, overall, has never been what I'd call fun. It's fulfilling. It doesn't come real easy for me.

Writing for me can be homework. I do get a lot from it in the end. But I hate doing it.

I really hate to write.