writing Quotes

I tell everyone I interact with what I'm working on and let them bring me anecdotes that illustrate my themes.

My only writing ritual is to shave my head bald between writing the first and second drafts of a book. If I can throw away all my hair, then I have the freedom to trash any part of the book on the next rewrite.

Every author has to eventually write a food book.

Being lonely is not a bad thing for a writer.

It seems that so much writing is being done in the nineteenth-century model, where every connection has to be thoroughly explained.

There are people out there who will not read books, but somehow they'll read my books.

I think it's more important to write something that brings men back to reading than it is to write for people who already read. There's a reason men don't read, and it's because books don't serve men. It's time we produce books that serve men.

Mr. Olsen in the fifth grade made me want to be a writer. He said, 'Chuck, you do this really well. And this is much better than setting fires, so keep it up.' That made me a writer.

If anything I try to write something that would be more difficult to film. I tend to see film as competition and would like instead to do what books do best.

While writing, I tend to repeat the same song, endlessly, for thousands of times. This helps me ignore any lyrics, and helps create a consistent mood for each book.