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Jess Walter Quotes

You take something from your past that you’re somewhat ashamed about and you write about it from another character’s point of view Picture Quote #1

Often, the fact that I haven’t done something as a writer is all the reason I need to try it Picture Quote #1

He found himself in habiting the vast, empty plateau where most people live, between boredom and contentment Picture Quote #1

Some memories remain close; you can shut your eyes and find yourself back in them. But there are second-person memories, too, distant you memories, and these are trickier: you watch yourself in disbelief Picture Quote #1

All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history, and character-what we believe-none of it is real; it’s all part of the story we tell. But here’s the thing: it’s our goddamned story! Picture Quote #1

I think most Hollywood meetings are silly and I truly despise pitching. It’s insane to expect someone to come in and tell you the story before they’ve written it, and buying an idea from someone who can explain it rather than write it is like choosing a mechanic based on his ability to draw a picture of your car’s problem Picture Quote #1

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I probably would have gone the M.F.A. route except I was a dad at 19, and it made more sense to go to work for a newspaper and support a kid that way. But the funny thing is, that detour became the most important step in my developing as a novelist Picture Quote #1

I don’t know that any writing comes easily, but I certainly get more immersed in novels. I don’t think the routine is any different, but fiction tends to pull me further away from my life. When I’m deep in a novel, I don’t pay bills and I walk around in one shoe, drinking two-day old coffee, and calling my kids by the wrong names Picture Quote #1

I think celebrity has become almost normalized. I feel like we all live our lives in a pale imitation of celebrity. With Facebook, we choose a photo that is not too good a photo - we’re more arch than that. We’re our own celebrity publicists. We understand it so innately Picture Quote #1

People sometimes ask who I would cast in my books and I never have any idea. I don’t think I could ever write a book thinking of it as a movie the whole time. This would be like building a house and filling it with furniture just so you could have blueprints Picture Quote #1

Ultimately if you’re a journalist, one day you’re writing about figure skating, one day a political debate. I loved that about reporting. I like throwing my energies into various corners of the world Picture Quote #1

For me, movies and television are interesting because they are the dominant storytelling form of our time. My first love will always be fiction, and especially novels, but I’m a writer... I write poetry and essays and criticism and I’d love to write a whole play, and sometimes I even write scripts Picture Quote #1

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My poetry is the most disappointing thing for me that I’ve ever written. When I say I can write everything, I don’t say I can write everything well Picture Quote #1

I realized the structure in a collection is how they’re put together. Structuring the collection became the art of it for me. Because the stories had all been written Picture Quote #1

I doubt the terrorists saw 9/11 as a teaching opportunity. And we’re not really a culture geared to anything as humble as ‘learning.’ But I was disappointed in how quickly everyone wanted to get back to normal. It was as if we watched terrorism on TV for a while, then got bored and turned back to ‘American Idol.’ Picture Quote #1

Forget being ‘discovered.’ All you can do is write. If you write well enough, and are stubborn enough to embrace failure, and if you happen to fall into the narrow categories that the book market recognizes, then you might make a little money. Otherwise, it’s a struggle. A gorgeous struggle Picture Quote #1

In seventh grade, with some vague sense that I wanted to be a writer, I crouched in the junior high school library stacks to see where my novels would eventually be filed. It was right after someone named Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. So I grabbed a Vonnegut book, ‘Breakfast of Champions’ and immediately fell in love Picture Quote #1

I wake at 5 or 5:30 most mornings, make myself a latte and grab a cookie, write until 10 or 11, go have my favorite meal, ‘second breakfast,’ or grab coffee with friends, or play basketball. Then, around noon, I begin apologizing via email for the manuscripts I can’t get to Picture Quote #1

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I pretty much drink a cup of coffee, write in my journal for a while, and then sit at a computer in my office and torture the keys. My one saving grace as a writer is that, if I’m having trouble with the novel I’m writing, I write something else, a poem or a short story. I try to avoid writer’s block by always writing something Picture Quote #1

The first fiction I ever wrote was short stories. I was writing short stories in my late teens and early twenties, and I think it’s how you teach yourself to write Picture Quote #1

Words and emotions are simple currencies. If we inflate them, they lose their value, just like money. They begin to mean nothing. Use ‘beautiful’ to describe a sandwich and the word means nothing. Since the war, there is no more room for inflated language. Words and feelings are small now - clear and precise. Humble like dreams Picture Quote #1

He found himself in habiting the vast, empty plateau where most people live, between boredom and contentment Picture Quote #1

Maybe every couple lived in the gaps between conversations, unable to say the important things for fear they had already been said, or couldn’t be said; maybe every relationship started over every time two people came together Picture Quote #1

If you come from money and you become an addict, you go to the Betty Ford Clinic, you get treatment. If you’re living on the street and you’re an addict, it’s much harder to find your way out Picture Quote #1

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My poems... the ones that start out as jokes become these big ponderous things and the ones that start out ponderous devolve into jokes Picture Quote #1

I’ve been simultaneously drawn to and repelled from Hollywood for years Picture Quote #1

I’m a writer, and the subject is less important than the act of writing itself Picture Quote #1

I think I would explode in flames of irony if I were to option an idea that I was satirizing in a novel Picture Quote #1

With Facebook and Twitter, we’re all our own little publicists in a way Picture Quote #1

There was a real conflation of hero and victim in the wake of 9/11, in our perverse desire to create a triumphant myth out of pure tragedy Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

You take something from your past that you’re somewhat ashamed about and you write about it from another character’s point of view. (Jess Walter Quotes) Often, the fact that I haven’t done something as a writer is all the reason I need to try it (Jess Walter Quotes) He found himself in habiting the vast, empty plateau where most people live, between boredom and contentment (Jess Walter Quotes) Some memories remain close; you can shut your eyes and find yourself back in them. But there are second-person memories, too, distant you memories, and these are trickier: you watch yourself in disbelief (Jess Walter Quotes) All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history, and character-what we believe-none of it is real; it’s all part of the story we tell. But here’s the thing: it’s our goddamned story! (Jess Walter Quotes) I think most Hollywood meetings are silly and I truly despise pitching. It’s insane to expect someone to come in and tell you the story before they’ve written it, and buying an idea from someone who can explain it rather than write it is like choosing a mechanic based on his ability to draw a picture of your car’s problem (Jess Walter Quotes) I probably would have gone the M.F.A. route except I was a dad at 19, and it made more sense to go to work for a newspaper and support a kid that way. But the funny thing is, that detour became the most important step in my developing as a novelist (Jess Walter Quotes) I don’t know that any writing comes easily, but I certainly get more immersed in novels. I don’t think the routine is any different, but fiction tends to pull me further away from my life. When I’m deep in a novel, I don’t pay bills and I walk around in one shoe, drinking two-day old coffee, and calling my kids by the wrong names (Jess Walter Quotes) I think celebrity has become almost normalized. I feel like we all live our lives in a pale imitation of celebrity. With Facebook, we choose a photo that is not too good a photo - we’re more arch than that. We’re our own celebrity publicists. We understand it so innately (Jess Walter Quotes) People sometimes ask who I would cast in my books and I never have any idea. I don’t think I could ever write a book thinking of it as a movie the whole time. This would be like building a house and filling it with furniture just so you could have blueprints (Jess Walter Quotes) Ultimately if you’re a journalist, one day you’re writing about figure skating, one day a political debate. I loved that about reporting. I like throwing my energies into various corners of the world (Jess Walter Quotes) For me, movies and television are interesting because they are the dominant storytelling form of our time. My first love will always be fiction, and especially novels, but I’m a writer... I write poetry and essays and criticism and I’d love to write a whole play, and sometimes I even write scripts (Jess Walter Quotes) My poetry is the most disappointing thing for me that I’ve ever written. When I say I can write everything, I don’t say I can write everything well (Jess Walter Quotes) I realized the structure in a collection is how they’re put together. Structuring the collection became the art of it for me. Because the stories had all been written. (Jess Walter Quotes) I doubt the terrorists saw 9/11 as a teaching opportunity. And we’re not really a culture geared to anything as humble as ‘learning.’ But I was disappointed in how quickly everyone wanted to get back to normal. It was as if we watched terrorism on TV for a while, then got bored and turned back to ‘American Idol.’ (Jess Walter Quotes) Forget being ‘discovered.’ All you can do is write. If you write well enough, and are stubborn enough to embrace failure, and if you happen to fall into the narrow categories that the book market recognizes, then you might make a little money. Otherwise, it’s a struggle. A gorgeous struggle. (Jess Walter Quotes) In seventh grade, with some vague sense that I wanted to be a writer, I crouched in the junior high school library stacks to see where my novels would eventually be filed. It was right after someone named Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. So I grabbed a Vonnegut book, ‘Breakfast of Champions’ and immediately fell in love. (Jess Walter Quotes) I wake at 5 or 5:30 most mornings, make myself a latte and grab a cookie, write until 10 or 11, go have my favorite meal, ‘second breakfast,’ or grab coffee with friends, or play basketball. Then, around noon, I begin apologizing via email for the manuscripts I can’t get to. (Jess Walter Quotes) I pretty much drink a cup of coffee, write in my journal for a while, and then sit at a computer in my office and torture the keys. My one saving grace as a writer is that, if I’m having trouble with the novel I’m writing, I write something else, a poem or a short story. I try to avoid writer’s block by always writing something. (Jess Walter Quotes) The first fiction I ever wrote was short stories. I was writing short stories in my late teens and early twenties, and I think it’s how you teach yourself to write. (Jess Walter Quotes) Words and emotions are simple currencies. If we inflate them, they lose their value, just like money. They begin to mean nothing. Use ‘beautiful’ to describe a sandwich and the word means nothing. Since the war, there is no more room for inflated language. Words and feelings are small now - clear and precise. Humble like dreams. (Jess Walter Quotes) He found himself in habiting the vast, empty plateau where most people live, between boredom and contentment. (Jess Walter Quotes) Maybe every couple lived in the gaps between conversations, unable to say the important things for fear they had already been said, or couldn’t be said; maybe every relationship started over every time two people came together. (Jess Walter Quotes) If you come from money and you become an addict, you go to the Betty Ford Clinic, you get treatment. If you’re living on the street and you’re an addict, it’s much harder to find your way out. (Jess Walter Quotes) My poems... the ones that start out as jokes become these big ponderous things and the ones that start out ponderous devolve into jokes (Jess Walter Quotes) I’ve been simultaneously drawn to and repelled from Hollywood for years (Jess Walter Quotes) I’m a writer, and the subject is less important than the act of writing itself (Jess Walter Quotes) I think I would explode in flames of irony if I were to option an idea that I was satirizing in a novel (Jess Walter Quotes) With Facebook and Twitter, we’re all our own little publicists in a way (Jess Walter Quotes) There was a real conflation of hero and victim in the wake of 9/11, in our perverse desire to create a triumphant myth out of pure tragedy (Jess Walter Quotes)

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