Outlining is not writing. Coming up with ideas is not writing. Researching is not writing. Creating characters is not writing. Only writing is writing.
Harlan Coben
Related Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing,... E. L. DOCTOROW Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're do... E. L. DOCTOROW I survived that trouble so likewise may I survive this one. OLD ENGLISH WRITING It's hell writing and it's hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written. ROBERT HASS writing about a writer's block is better than not writing at all CHARLES BUKOWSKI Re-writing is different from writing. Original writing is very difficult. DAVID CRONENBERG We do not write as we want to but as we can WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM A cookbook is not like being an author. It's writing down recipes; it's not writing. GRANT ACHATZ Writing a novel is easier than writing a memoir; you are not constrained by the truth. STEVE BISLEY Writing is a craft not an art. WILLIAM ZINSSER Writing a book is not a crime. ALEXANDER AHNDORIL Writing is hard - writing is the hardest. AUBREY PLAZA Writing makes me hard, like a fisherman, and brown from the heat. Tossing out and reeling in is a jo... CHILA WOYCHIK There is only one secret to great writing and that's great writing. CHLOE THURLOW Medicine is a supremely useful profession. Fiction writing is not. ETHAN CANIN More than this, I believe that the only lastingly important form of writing is writing for children.... SONYA HARTNETT The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it... BEN OKRI Writing is the Art, re-writing the craft. O'BRIEN BROWNE Writing tonal music now, you are not writing into the 19th Century. GAVIN BRYARS Space is not for wimps. It's certainly not just writing a check. GREG OLSEN not writing is not good but trying to write when you can't is worse. CHARLES BUKOWSKI Forgive me for not writing but this man is exhausting. WALLIS SIMPSON Writing is not a profession, but a vocation of unhappiness. GEORGES SIMENON Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness GEORGES SIMENON Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. GEORGE SIMENON Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. GEORGES SIMENON Forgive me for not writing but this man is exhausting. WALLIS SIMPSON DUCHESS OF WINDSOR Writing humor is not something every single person can do. CELIA RIVENBARK Writing is at its best when writing it is like reading it. JULIA RANZANI I'm not writing great literature. I'm writing commercial fiction for people to enjoy the sto... KATHY REICHS When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a c... ERNEST HEMINGWAY Writing for a soap - writing for 25 characters day in, day out - is one of the most difficult jobs i... ERIC BRAEDEN On the Internet, everyone is writing. There is a great flowering of writing. JAMES SALTER Writing only leads to more writing. SIDONIE GABRIELLE Writing only leads to more writing. SIDONIE GABRIELLE COLETTE Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar. E.B. (ELWYN BROOKS) WHITE Writing is a dreadful labor, yet not so dreadful as Idleness. THOMAS CARLYLE Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar. E. B. WHITE You are not writing properly unless someone is bleeding, probably you. ROBERT GALBRAITH Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar. E.B. WHITE Great writing is great writing. It's as simple as all that. KATE MULGREW In writing, a good guy must never break any of the Ten Commandments. A bad guy must break every one.... KIMBERLY BLACK I started writing it in 2002 and kept writing and kept writing and kept writing. This is a different... DANIEL POUND If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then do... ANAIS NIN If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then do... ANAïS NIN You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die. CARLOS FUENTES I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems. WISłAWA SZYMBORSKA It’s not the fear of writing that blocks people, it’s the fear of not writing well; something qu... SCOTT BERKUN There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily. ANTHONY TROLLOPE I write because there is nothing as joyful as writing, even when the writing is twisted and full of ... GARY SHTEYNGART I approach writing female characters the same why I approach writing male characters. I never think ... JEFFREY EUGENIDES The hardest part of writing is not to get the ideas but to remember, why it is important to get them... JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER The secret to good writing is to use small words for big ideas, not to use big words for small ideas... OLIVER MARKUS MALLOY The secret to good writing is to use small words for big ideas, not to use big words for small ideas... OLIVER MARKUS The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them. JEFF JARVIS Writing is a whole-brain enterprise. It’s a process not a profession. LILY CHATTERJEE Great writing is great writing. It's as simple as all that. KATE MULGREW Writing eases my suffering... writing is my way of reaffirming my own existence. GAO XINGJIAN Writing a book is like raising a child, the only difference is you don’t have the fucking part in ... M.F. MOONZAJER There are places where writing is acting and acting is writing. I'm not so interested in the div... SAM SHEPARD The only kind of writing is rewriting. ERNEST HEMINGWAY Start writing by thinking, not wrestling with words. JONATHAN PRICE I have been writing since I was old enough to spell. I have never considered not writing. CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE Writing detective stories is about writing light literature, for entertainment. It isn't primari... STIEG LARSSON The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure pure reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a... BILL WATTERSON I believe that writing is derivative. I think good writing comes from good reading. CHARLES KURALT Of all fatiguing, futile, empty trades, the worst, I suppose, is writing about writing. HILAIRE BELLOC For me, writing a short story is much, much harder than writing a novel. LYNN ABBEY Writing is my passion. Writing is my escape from this chaotic world that we all live in. NICK WOLF I'm always writing. A friend of mine once said, 'You avoid re-writing by writing.' Which... CAMERON CROWE Writing does not resurrect. It buries. JOHN GREEN Writing does not resurrect, it buries. JOHN GREEN Writing does not resurrect. It buries.. JOHN GREEN If you're not writing, you're wronging. KEVIN JAMES BREAUX Some of my favorite movies are action movies. You want something good to say. That comes from good w... JASON STATHAM Reviewing music or reviewing anything is a writing job. It's nice if you are experienced in the fiel... VIRGIL THOMSON Good writing is good writing, and I'm so happy when I read it. MEG WOLITZER Writing is such a solitary endeavor. It gets people interested in and talking about writing. JAMIE BROWN Vigorous writing is concise. WILLIAM STRUNK JR. Moral writing is boring. JOHAN VAN WYK Vigorous writing is concise. WILLIAM STRUNK, JR. Writing is my therapy. ADAM SILVERA All writing is rewriting. JOHN GREEN How many people make a career out of writing anyway?' Cath snapped. She felt like everything inside ... RAINBOW ROWELL Life is a racket. Writing is a racket. Sincerity is a racket. Everything's a racket. NICK TOSCHES God loves the plagiarist. And so it is written, 'God created humankind in His image, in the image of... JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER Cellar Roots is not just for art and writing majors at EMU. Any EMU student can contribute. There is... JENNIFER ARMSTRONG My business is drawing, not writing, and this text is pretty much background for the drawings. WILLIAM H. MAULDIN Writing is not just a process of creation. It is also a process of self-discovery CRISTINA ISTRATI Writing is always personal in some way but not always in a direct way. SUZANNE VEGA Write grievance in sand, benefits in sandstone. Writing is a challenge, not a chore LILY CHATTERJEE Writer's Block is just an excuse by people who don't write for not writing. GIANDO SIGURANI During all of my writing career - this includes when I was writing plays and my other screenplays - ... ASGHAR FARHADI Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing in the open se... JOHN UPDIKE Writing that's not working for a living. ROBERT ASPRIN Letter writing is the only device combining solitude with good company. GEORGE GORDON BYRON Writing with you is the only thing that keeps me alive. DAVID HACKWORTH With great writing, there is great clarity. DAVID COSTABILE Reviewing music or reviewing anything is a writing job. It's nice if you are experienced in the ... VIRGIL THOMSON First of all, writing at best - certainly fiction writing - more and more I think is magic. KATHY ACKER
More Harlan Coben
I always say three things make a writer: inspiration, obviously; perspiration, doing the work. But t... HARLAN COBEN I don't find any real rivalries with crime and thriller writers anyway. That might sound a littl... HARLAN COBEN 'Caught' is a novel of forgiveness, and the past and the present - who should be and who sho... HARLAN COBEN I always think the insecurity is going to go away, but it's always there. Only bad writers think... HARLAN COBEN Writing my first book, I think in hindsight I went into it saying, 'It's gonna sell.' I ... HARLAN COBEN I'm thinking of taking up golf, but the idea of spending time with golfers frightens me. HARLAN COBEN In real life, coincidences happen all the time. In novels, they are leapt upon with fury. HARLAN COBEN I try to stress to my children that buying something never leads to true happiness. HARLAN COBEN The actual writing time is a lot shorter than the thinking time. I don't do too many notes. I ke... 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HARLAN COBEN I remember the days of sitting at book signings, playing with my pen when no one would come, and sti... HARLAN COBEN Make no mistake, adolescence is a war. No one gets out unscathed. HARLAN COBEN Let me back up a little and tell you why I prefer writing to real life: You can rewrite. A novel, fo... HARLAN COBEN And I love the twist. I love to fool you once, I love to fool you twice, and on the very last page, ... HARLAN COBEN This is the price you pay for having a great father. You get the wonder, the joy, the tender moments... HARLAN COBEN Being a parent is not for the faint of heart. I may joke about knowing fear, but the fact is, the fi... HARLAN COBEN I am, after all, a thriller writer. I routinely delve into the darkest chambers of the human heart. ... HARLAN COBEN I like to see the difference between good and evil as kind of like the foul line at a baseball game.... HARLAN COBEN I live in the suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and ha... HARLAN COBEN The state of New Jersey is really two places - terrible cities and wonderful suburbs. I live in the ... HARLAN COBEN The muse is not an angelic voice that sits on your shoulder and sings sweetly. The muse is the most ... HARLAN COBEN My house has too many distractions. There's the email. There's checking my Amazon ranking. I... HARLAN COBEN Getting into a fight with a popular senior. Pissing off a school teacher and the local chief of poli... HARLAN COBEN You live among this ridiculous wealth and you get lost. You worry about nonsense like spirituality a... HARLAN COBEN When I was seventeen, I worked as a counsellor at a co-ed sleep-away camp for eight weeks. I loved i... HARLAN COBEN Her smile shames the sun HARLAN COBEN There are few times that I feel more at peace, more in tune, more Zen, if you will, than when I forc... HARLAN COBEN ..."better to have loved and lost" bullshit. Don't show me paradise and then burn it down. HARLAN COBEN The ugliest truth is still better than the prettiest of lies. HARLAN COBEN I pretty much only wear Lilly Pulitzer ties because my best friend owns the company. HARLAN COBEN There are three things that make a person a writer: inspiration, perspiration and desperation. HARLAN COBEN It's not the dead even. They're gone. Nothing you can do about that. It's what's left behind - the e... HARLAN COBEN Years fly by, but the heart stays in the same place. HARLAN COBEN In sum," Midlife said, giving the room his best you-the-jury baritone, "Our defense will be...?" He ... HARLAN COBEN To say that only those businesses affected with a public interest may be regulated is but another wa... HARLAN STONE Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a ... HARLAN STONE Democracy cannot survive without the guidance of a creative minority. HARLAN STONE A lot of songs you write are just for exercise - just pencil sharpeners. HARLAN HOWARD K is for KENGHIS KHAN. _He_ was a very _nice_ person. History has no record of him. There is a moral... HARLAN ELLISON The two most abundant things in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. HARLAN ELLISON Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughte... HARLAN ELLISON Often the difference between a successful marriage and a mediocre one consists of leaving about thre... HARLAN MILLER The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. HARLAN ELLISON You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is en... HARLAN ELLISON Country music is three chords and the truth. HARLAN HOWARD I learned why they're called wonder drugs -- you wonder what they'll do to you. HARLAN MILLER Sex is a momentary itch, love never lets you go HARLAN ELLISON The passion for revenge should never blind you to the pragmatics of the situation. There are some pe... HARLAN ELLISON I take a whole life story and compress it into three minutes. HARLAN HOWARD I know that pain is the most important thing in the universes. Greater than survival, greater than l... HARLAN ELLISON Those men established and raised this franchise to new heights. BOB HARLAN I don't think his legacy will ever shrink. BOB HARLAN That's what changed the football fortunes of this franchise, BOB HARLAN It gives them something a little special. BOB HARLAN Everybody's asking me if he said this would be his last year. Ted did not say anything about that. H... BOB HARLAN I want to answer their request. We listen to them. They are the owners. I also want them to know we ... BOB HARLAN Lombardi's on a high pedestal and deserves to be. BOB HARLAN He was very honored. I told him to look up there (the facade of Lambeau Field) and picture his name ... BOB HARLAN (Favre) hasn't told me personally, and I had lunch with Mike and Ted earlier (Friday), and he hadn't... BOB HARLAN Continuation of the salary cap was our No. 1 goal. Without it, the long-term viability of the Packer... BOB HARLAN True Love burns the brightest, But the brightest flames leave the deepest scars. HARLAN ELLISON I'm going to laugh and jeer and wiggle my ears at your death throes... You can OD on religion or do... HARLAN ELLISON The trouble with worrying so much about your security in the future is that you feel so insecure in ... HARLAN MILLER Love ain't nothing but sex misspelled. HARLAN ELLISON Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a ... HARLAN STONE So far in 2006 we've had 17 calls, most in the past three to four weeks. HARLAN MILLER It was very clear the judge was displeased that the commissioners have failed to do their job and ge... HARLAN MILLER war in the streets. HARLAN MILLER I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. HARLAN MILLER I hate being wrong, but I love it when I'm set straight. HARLAN ELLISON [On love:] I have no respect for anyone who says they've given up, or that they're not looking or th... HARLAN ELLISON I will use big words from time to time, the meanings of which I may only vaguely perceive, in hopes ... HARLAN ELLISON I don't care who's checking him, he'll get open. ANDRE HARLAN I have no mouth, and I must scream. HARLAN ELLISON I always said the calendar was working in our favor. If he was going to (retire), he would have told... BOB HARLAN If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they... HARLAN ELLISON That's what changed the football fortunes of this franchise. It was huge. He sent a message to the r... BOB HARLAN That's what changed the football fortunes of this franchise. It was huge, ... He sent a message to t... BOB HARLAN As long as you have the chairman (title) and you're the CEO, you're still in charge of the organizat... BOB HARLAN A lot of it is strictly media speculation. There are all kinds of names thrown out there. Ted (Thomp... BOB HARLAN When belief in a god dies, the god dies HARLAN ELLISON People who can't get laid watch _Star Trek_ and eat Twinkies! HARLAN ELLISON The female customer is used to a much higher level of detail and much more aesthetic. HARLAN GARDINER Love ain't nothing but sex misspelled. HARLAN ELLISON He's not the fastest guy. But he always gets open and makes the big catch. He runs the best routes I... ANDRE HARLAN And we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinio... HARLAN ELLISON If you have a roof over your head, clothes on you back, and food in your mouth. Please don't tell me... HARLAN JEFFERSON I usually start with a title or maybe a little rhyme or phrase. HARLAN HOWARD Like the wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of co... HARLAN ELLISON Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often s... HARLAN MILLER Did you have one of those days today, like a nail in the foot? Did the pterodactyl corpse dropped by... HARLAN ELLISON Don't start an argument with somebody who has a microphone when you don't. They'll make you look lik... HARLAN ELLISON It is not merely enough to love literature if one wishes to spend one's life as a writer. It is a da... HARLAN ELLISON With regard to what the United States is doing on climate change, the actions we have taken are next... HARLAN WATSON I don't mind you thinking I'm stupid, but don't talk to me like I'm stupid HARLAN ELLISON In these days of widespread illiteracy, functional illiteracy... anything that keeps people stupid i... HARLAN ELLISON Posing the question: does the god of love use underarm deodorant, vaginal spray and fluoride toothpa... HARLAN ELLISON I told the seniors after the third game, 'This is what you've been busting your butts since June 1, ... TR HARLAN The ability to dream is all I have to give. That is my responsibility; that is my burden. And even I... HARLAN ELLISON If you put your hand in my pocket, you’ll drag back six inches of bloody stump. HARLAN ELLISON HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION... HARLAN ELLISON There's a difference between climate and extreme weather, ... Our scientists continually tell us we ... HARLAN WATSON The United States is opposed to any such discussions. HARLAN WATSON We need to pursue our international efforts in a spirit of cooperation - not coercion - with a true ... HARLAN WATSON but I can't guarantee it's going to continue. HARLAN WATSON One can argue whether it's slowing down fast enough, but it is slowing down. We're doing better than... HARLAN WATSON There are many, many different ideas. People are not yet ready to move ahead under the convention. T... HARLAN WATSON We're going to resist it, obviously. HARLAN WATSON We are working hard on some of the advanced technologies ... but the development and deployment of t... HARLAN WATSON A targets and timetables approach will not work for us. HARLAN WATSON Preemption is and always will be a potentially useful tool, but it's not something you want to trot ... HARLAN ULLMAN You have this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, not taking days or ... HARLAN ULLMAN For example, we are dependent on India for much of our software. So is that a vulnerability? Is that... HARLAN ULLMAN The gesture, albeit insulting, had no sexual meaning, did not appeal to anyone's prurient interest, ... HARLAN STONE To say that only those businesses affected with a public interest may be regulated is but another wa... HARLAN STONE We really need to know more about the radiation environment on the Moon, especially if people will b... HARLAN SPENCE An insolvent companyin this case, Enronis not allowed to make payments to stockholders. HARLAN LOEB An insolvent company - in this case, Enron - is not allowed to make payments to stockholders. HARLAN LOEB An insolvent company in this case, Enron is not allowed to make payments to stockholders. HARLAN LOEB An insolvent company in this case, Enron is not allowed to make payments to stockholders. HARLAN LOEB An insolvent company -- in this case, Enron -- is not allowed to make payments to stockholders. HARLAN LOEB Like [ HARLAN HOWARD Pick Me Up on Your Way Down HARLAN HOWARD A lot of songs you write are just for exercise -- just pencil sharpeners. HARLAN HOWARD Work is both my living and my pleasure. HARLAN HOWARD I'm always collecting emotions for future reference. HARLAN HOWARD Specific design needs to come into play for the female golfer. For example, women's golf clubs are a... HARLAN GARDINER I took it as a challenge. For us, the move to address the (Girl) market directly, head-on, really co... HARLAN GARDINER There's a much higher level of organization in our Girl line. HARLAN GARDINER K is for "Kenghis Khan"; He was a very nice person. History has no record of him. There is a moral i... HARLAN ELLISON Bigfoot Networks products will infuse online gaming with blazing speed, making them a ton more fun. ... HARLAN BEVERLY We are to online games what 3D video cards are to graphics: essential. Eventually, we plan to comple... HARLAN BEVERLY We did not quite get all of the alignments we wanted, but we did do some things right. We put oursel... GARY HARLAN You look at the match going in on paper and figure, this one and this one we don't have a chance of ... GARY HARLAN Comedy is, of course, closely associated with eggs. HARLAN TARBELL The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil ... JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN The Constitution is not a panacea for every blot upon the public welfare. Nor should this Court, ord... JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN The Constitution is not a panacea for every blot upon the public welfare, nor should this Court, ord... JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN But in view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, domina... JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN Feed the poor and get rich or feed the rich and get poor. COLONEL HARLAN SANDERS There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can't do any business from there. COLONEL HARLAN SANDERS Reality is shaped by the forces that destroy it. D. HARLAN WILSON All of these top hospitals share eight common characteristics that drive their ability to deliver fa... HARLAN M. KRUMHOLZ Over eight years there was only a 2 percent difference between heart disease among siblings with and... HARLAN M. KRUMHOLZ Most of the innovations are about working smarter, not necessarily harder or with more staff. It is ... HARLAN M. KRUMHOLZ