When I read, I'm purely a reader Anne Tyler More Quotes by Anne Tyler More Quotes From Anne Tyler View your burden as a gift. It's the theme that has been given you to work with. Accept that and lean into it. Anne Tyler burden accepting views I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only in the last draft to consider how the work will look from the outside. Anne Tyler lasts writing looks She saw herself riding in the passenger seat, Sam behind the wheel. Like two of those little peg people in a toy car. Husband peg, wife peg, side by side. Facing the road and not looking at each other; for why would they need to, really, having gone beyond the visible surface long ago. No hope of admiring gazes anymore, no chance of unremitting adoration. Nothing left to show but their plain, true, homely, interior selves, which were actually much richer anyhow. Anne Tyler long-ago husband self I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them. Anne Tyler what-matters fun thinking Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing. Anne Tyler mechanic mind writing My family can always tell when I'm well into a novel because the meals get very crummy. Anne Tyler meals literature writing But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer. Anne Tyler writing book thinking I can never tell ahead of time which book will give me trouble - some balk every step of the way, others seem to write themselves - but certainly the mechanics of writing, finding the time and the psychic space, are easier now that my children are grown. Anne Tyler writing book children There is no sound more peaceful than rain on the roof, if you're safe asleep in someone else's house. Anne Tyler peaceful house rain I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage. Anne Tyler writing character book People imagine that missing a loved one works kind of like missing cigarettes,' he said. 'The first day is really hard but the next day is less hard and so forth, easier and easier the longer you go on. But instead it's like missing water. Every day, you notice the person's absence more. Anne Tyler next-day love water ... everyone must play his role. Anne Tyler roles play It seems to me that good novels celebrate the mystery in ordinary life, and summing it all up in psychological terms strips the mystery away Anne Tyler celebrate-life mystery ordinary I suspect that marriage is like parenthood: every last one of us is an amateur at it. Anne Tyler parenthood marriage lasts I love to think about chance - about how one little overheard word, one pebble in a shoe, can change the universe. Anne Tyler shoes luck thinking When you have children, you're obligated to live. Anne Tyler children Point of view is not something I consciously decide. Almost always, when I come up with a plot I find that the point of view has automatically arrived with it, part and parcel of the story. Anne Tyler plot views stories ...he thought of dying as a kind of adventure, something new that he hadn't yet experienced. Like an unusual vacation trip. Anne Tyler vacation dying adventure Liam really enjoyed a good movie. He found it restful to watch people's conversations without being expected to join in. But he always felt sort of lonesome if he didn't have someone next to him to nudge in the ribs at the good parts. Anne Tyler good-movie watches people He wished he had inhabited more of his life, used it better, filled it fuller. Anne Tyler filled used
