Around Mik, my powers desert me. I lose basic motor function, like my brain focuses all neural activity on my lips and shifts into kiss preparedness mode way too early, to the detriment of things like speech, and walking. Laini Taylor More Quotes by Laini Taylor More Quotes From Laini Taylor The sooner you learn to finish things, and as a matter of course finish your creative endeavors, the better. It took me a long time to learn that. Laini Taylor creative matter long I've always been a reader and a writer. Laini Taylor reader Cesky Krumlov, the little jewel box of a city in southern Bohemia. Laini Taylor southern cities jewels Icon of Prague, the medieval bridge crossed the Vltava between Old Town and the Little Quarter. Gothic bridge towers rose on both sides, and the whole span — pedestrian-only — was lined by monumental statues of saints. Laini Taylor icons bridges rose Head held high, she stepped toward the block and sank to her knees, and it was then that Akiva started to scream. His voice soared over the pandemonium - a scream to scour the souls of all gathered, a sound to drive ghosts from their nests. Laini Taylor block voice soul What does true even mean when it comes to a face? Only souls are true, and when you spill them to the air they melt away. Laini Taylor soul air mean Love affair. Doesn't that sound so middle-aged? And also ill-fated. Like ill-fated is an understood prefix to love affair. Well, ill-fated is fine, as long as it's a meaty and fraught ill-fated love affair, not a pale and insipid one. Laini Taylor age love long To a new generation of butterflies, hopefully less stupid than last. Maybe they were burgeoning even now in fat little cocoons. Or maybe not. Laini Taylor butterfly generations stupid The two of them were stoic and stone-faced and ten feet apart, currently not even looking at each other, but Zuzana had the impression of a pair of magnets pretending not to be magnets. Which, you know, only works until it doesn't. Laini Taylor feet love two The audacity to love. Do you know what a gift that is? Laini Taylor do-you-know audacity knows When you are young, hone your craft and write shorter pieces instead of novels, because it's really hard to finish a novel. Laini Taylor crafts pieces writing Dialogue is the place that books are most alive and forge the most direct connection with readers. It is also where we as writers discover our characters and allow them to become real. Laini Taylor real character book How could you tell if your instincts were just hope in disguise, and if your hope was really desperation parading as possibility? Laini Taylor desperation possibility instinct We are the beginning ... We always have been. This time, let it be more than a beginning. Laini Taylor has-beens And I've found that since you can't electrify yourself like a fence, the next best thing is to have murderer's eyes. Laini Taylor next fence eye I am stardust gathered fleetingly into form. Laini Taylor stardust form When I turned to writing fantasy, and writing for young people, it was joyous. It was like discovering an underground lake of ideas that went on forever. Laini Taylor lakes writing ideas Never sit staring at a blank page or screen. If you find yourself stuck, write. Write about the scene you're trying to write. Writing about is easier than writing, and chances are, it will give you your way in. Laini Taylor finding-yourself writing giving It's easy to get published once you have written a really good book and the hard part, 99 percent of what you need to worry about, is really finishing it. Laini Taylor finishing-it worry book I think with world building, it's important to create a sense of culture even if it is just a fantasy, and the best way to do that is to look at a real human culture and see what makes it cohesive. Laini Taylor important real thinking