Eleanor Catton Quotes

It's hard for me to show work while I'm writing, because other people's comments will influence what happens.

You know, sometimes I get moments of inspiration when I'm writing something and then the task seems so daunting that it just kind of scares me away.

My theory about why Hemingway killed himself is that he heard his own voice; that he reached the point where he couldn't write without feeling he was repeating himself. That's the worst thing that can happen to a writer.

I never get writer's block, but I do have days where I crawl under the duvet.

I always had this ego where if I ever wanted to come back to doing rap, I could do that. That was not true. I would get stuck, I would be in a room and someone would ask me for something and I didn't have it.

The hardest period for a writer is the period in-between writing. That's when you can go crazy if you don't allow the creative juices to flow.

It's not like I've got 100 ideas. I finish a book, and I've got none.

The hardest thing about writing, for me, is facing the blank page.

Look at someone like Kanye West - ego is the death of a lot of art. To believe in yourself that much is to stop being an artist.

There's this existential argument that comes in, at some point, when you're over-thinking the songwriting process. There's no guarantee that the more time you spend or the more you concentrate on certain aspects that that's going to produce a better result, especially in the arts.

I think, as an artist, you want to keep going - you want to keep taking challenges; you want to be pushed, in a way - and I think Sonic Evolution does that, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable and get out of my comfort zone.

Writer's block is your self-critic getting in the way, because creativity will just flow otherwise.

If I get writer's block - this is going to sound funny - I take a shower. Something about the water feels like I'm cleaning my brain as well as my body.

Write first, worry later.

The worst thing is the blank page at the start. Then the horrible things written on the blank page. Then deciding whether or not to throw out those horrible things: lame scenes, lame characters, bad ideas.

I feel like I spend most of my time in a state of writer's block! When things do come out, they come out quickly.

I usually write a lot. I don't make an album and don't write for two years and then end up with a blank paper starting over.

Success can be destructive to the creative process. I say it all the time: success is as dangerous as total failure.

I think it's very dangerous as an artist to be comfortable.

I often feel like not writing! Sometimes I overcome it by just sitting there until writing happens. Sometimes I don't write, because books often need periods of percolation.

I don't think anybody can create in a space where they don't feel comfortable.

When people ask me where I get my ideas, I lie. I tell them I draw inspiration from the news, the world, my dreams. Or I joke and say that I steal from other writers. I lie because I don't know where ideas come from, and I'm afraid if I look too hard, they'll stop coming.

It may be that learning to do creative work of any kind - not just direct imagery exercises - may help combat writer's block.

Time moves too slowly for me to notice any evolution in my creative tendencies.

The creative process requires a period of boredom, of being stuck. That's actually a very uncomfortable period that a lot of people mistake for writer's block, but it's actually just part one of a long process.