"Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place."

Writing, First

20

Create Your Own Wallpaper

Standard

Customized

"Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place."

Exlpore more Writing quotes

"Writing. Is it a way to be remembered,or a need to become immortal?"

Toba Beta, Indonesian Author

Writing, Immortality, Truth, Future, Power

"I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine."

Emily Dickinson, American Poet

Writing, Word, Power, Expression

"Between the lines of every book the writer reveals their own secrets."

Chloe Thurlow, British Novelist

Writing, Secrets, Observation, Insight

"My whole theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Youth, Legacy

"Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."

Mark Twain, American Author

Writing, Time, Will

"Her love of words is a private passion - one she would rather not share. In the house of her childhood though everything had to be shared. If she tried to hold anything back, they would search and find the hidden places. Her written words, discovered, read were just the source of more pain and punishment. This was why she loved poetry. They did not always understand it so they left it alone."

bell hooks, American Critic

Writing, Word, Love, Poetry, Childhood

"And there never was an apple, in Adam's opinion, that wasn't worth the trouble you got into for eating it."

Neil Gaiman, British Author

Writing, Eating, Opinion, Trouble, Worth

"I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it."

William Faulkner, American Novelist

Writing, Read

"As a rule of thumb, four consecutive lines of dialogue is about as much as you want to have without a tag."

Diana Gabaldon, American Author

Writing, Dialogue, Clarity, Story

"In the middle section of the book Mirabelle breaks into not one, but two houses near Belgravia Books. I had fun scoping these out - checking which windows looked least secure and figuring out how to scale the mews houses to the rear to get her inside. A man came out at one point, 'What are you doing?' he questioned me. 'The thing is, I'm writing a book,' I started with a smile. He waved me off, his hand as wide as a tennis racket. 'Everyone is writing a book, my dear,' he said. Between you and I, it's his house that MIrabelle ends up breaking into."

Sara Sheridan, Scottish Author

Writing, Creativity, Story, Research, Imagination

Explore more quotes by Margaret Haddix

"I think I learned a lot from reading in general - even from reading badly written books."

Books

"Generally I finish a first draft in 2-6 months, then I set it aside for a while so that when I come back to it I can read it with fresh eyes and figure out how to improve it."

Writing

"It's just so much fun to make up characters, situations, and everything else about a story. I have so much freedom and flexibility to do whatever I want."

Writing

"The deadlines are much, much longer with books. When I was a reporter, a lot of times I'd come in at 8:30 a.m., get an assignment right away, interview somebody, turn the story in by 9:30, and have the finished story in the paper that landed on my desk by noon."

Books

"I like the fact that kids are willing to be imaginative and go along with me when I'm telling strange tales."

Fact

"After I've sent my revised draft to my agent and editor, they suggest more improvement sand again, this revision phase can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months."

Writing

"I like playing around with the words; I love it when I feel like I've picked the exact right word to describe whatever it is I'm trying to describe."

Love

"I started trying to write when I was in second or third grade."

Writing

"When writing isn't going well-then the bad thing about being a writer is that I also have the freedom and flexibility to do something badly, and no one else can fix it for me."

Being

"I write a book over a period of months or years, and when I'm done with it, usually another year goes by before I see it in print. It's hard to be patient and wait."

Writing