Writing an essay is like a school assignment: I have my topic, I organize my thoughts, and I write it. I have complete control over what I'm doing. Writing a novel is like setting out on a journey without knowing who or what I'll encounter, how long it's going to take, or where I'm going to end up.

Tawni O'Dell

Categorized in : Thoughts School Long Journey

I don't like phones. You can't be sure people are paying attention to you when you're talking to them.

Tawni O'Dell

phones talking people

Never give up on your dream...Perseverance is all important. If you don't have the desire and the belief in yourself to keep trying after you've been told you should quit, you'll never make it.

Tawni O'Dell

dream success inspirational

A man spends his whole life trying to prove his worth to others. A woman spends her life trying to prove her worth to herself.

Tawni O'Dell

whole-life trying men

She hated her job the same way I hated my jobs because she knew she was worth more, but she also hated herself so there wasn't much point in trying to do better.

Tawni O'Dell

trying jobs way

I wanted to end it now, like a bad TV show turned off in the middle.

Tawni O'Dell

tv-shows tvs ends

They were like English teachers who took the fun out of a perfectly good book by breaking it down into themes and sentence structures

Tawni O'Dell

fun teacher book

I've decided that the worst part of loneliness isn't being alone. It's being forgotten.

Tawni O'Dell

worst loneliness forgotten

Mining is a dangerous profession. There's no way to make a mine completely safe: These are the words owners have always used to excuse needless deaths and the words miners use to prepare for them.

Tawni O'Dell

words always dangerous way

I'm a novelist, and I'm a woman, and I'm considered to be a serious author whether I like it or not.

Tawni O'Dell

author woman like serious

I write literary, not commercial, fiction - or so I've been told by my publishers who are proud I write literary fiction but secretly wish I wrote commercial.

Tawni O'Dell

who proud wish fiction

My experience growing up in a rough and tumble town in the blue-collar world of Western Pennsylvania in the 1970s was that anything a man did was always more important than anything a woman did.

Tawni O'Dell

woman man experience world

I was an avid tomboy, and as long as I could ride my bike just as fast, hit the ball just as hard, and catch just as many garter snakes, I was accepted as one of the boys and enjoyed all the perks of superiority.

Tawni O'Dell

ride bike hard long

The image I had was that Oprah books were fluffy.

Tawni O'Dell

image books were fluffy

I've discovered as an author that the process of writing a novel becomes harder over time, not easier. I used to think the reverse must be true, that it would be like any task, and the more I practiced, the more adept I'd become.

Tawni O'Dell

true think writing time

My mind is constantly creating and searching, but I can't make myself put the right words on paper until I'm ready. Once I'm ready, I'm a focused, disciplined writer who will put in twelve hours a day at the computer, but I also spend a lot of time away from the computer getting to that point.

Tawni O'Dell

day myself mind time

When I begin writing, I have no idea what my novels are ultimately going to be about. I don't have a plot. I never consider a theme. I don't make notes or outlines.

Tawni O'Dell

going never theme writing

It turned out I really didn't like journalism. I wanted to make up stories, not cover real events.

Tawni O'Dell

like journalism events real

I really, really missed the Pennsylvania countryside and hills.

Tawni O'Dell

missed pennsylvania countryside hills

Here I am, this smart, bookish girl, and I have this biker-chick name.

Tawni O'Dell

name i-am smart girl

I should have been deliriously happy. I had my dream come true. I'm a best-selling author. So why is everything in my life, including my writing, going bad?

Tawni O'Dell

my-life bad happy life