Every time I get through the work on a book of nonfiction, I say I'll never do it again; it takes so much out of you.
Writing is a refuge from unhappiness, but has its own sorrows.
Normal people bring children into the world; we novelists bring books. We are condemned to put our whole lives into them, even though they hardly ever thank us for it. We are condemned to die in their pages and sometimes even to let our books be the ones who, in the end, will take our lives.
Writing a novel is one of those modern rites of passage, I think, that lead us from an innocent world of contentment, drunkenness, and good humor, to a state of chronic edginess and the perpetual scanning of bank statements.
the moods of sadness that come over anyone who takes up art... these dismal moods have very little compensation.
The artists must be sacrificed to their art. Like the bees, they must put their lives into the sting they give.
Writing books is certainly a most unpleasant occupation. It is lonesome, unsanitary, and maddening. Many authors go crazy.
The very thrills of genius are disorganizing. The body is never quite acclimated to its atmosphere, but how often, succumbs and goes into a decline.
My arms are killing me. I didn't know words could be so heavy.
I'm tired of being in a band, but I do want to continue making records and performing, at least a little bit. Making the records isn't always fun. It's fun to be finished with them. Making beautiful things can be quite painful.
Every time I write a book, I've probably taken five years off my life.
Sometimes the last thing you want to do is to go on stage and bare your soul in front of hundreds of complete strangers. Singing the same songs night after night can remind you of things you'd rather forget.
You have to stop living in order to write.
With theater, the time commitment and the demands on your body, your personal life, and your wallet are crazy. It's four months of feeling like you're running a marathon and getting paid in hugs.
To be fair, I don't think it's a plague to say I have the misfortune of making movies for a living.
Only another writer can know how much damage writing a novel can do to you. It's an unnatural activity to sit at a desk and squeeze words out of yourself.
I have a lot of respect for people who write a whole book because I've heard it will kill you.
You don't merely give over your creativity to making a film - you give over your life! In theatre, by contrast, you live these two rather strange lives simultaneously; you have no option but to confront the mould on last night's washing-up.
Life being so short, and the possible books to write so many, it's good to function by night as well as by day; but would anybody become a writer if they realised at the outset what the working hours were?
I'm pretty busy in my life and I'm very aware of what it takes to direct a movie. It takes a lot out of you; it takes a lot out of the rest of your life, from other people in your life. I don't lie around hungering for that consumption very often.
What is it they want from the man that they didn't get from the work? What do they expect? What is there left when he's done with his work, what's any artist but the dregs of his work, the human shambles that follows it around?
An artist who dedicates his life to art, burdens his art with his life, and his life with his art.
I toured for 13 years, and it was very lonely, and it was hard work. I'm not afraid of hard work, especially if it's for stuff that I enjoy. But I actually don't think you could name one artist who enjoys promo or touring after the first three to six months of an album cycle.
I need therapy after writing. It's like leaking blood from a stone. It's brutally difficult but worth it.
