Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.
Ann PatchettSome people need a huge amount of attention, and they are worthy of that attention, and they're still exhausting.
Ann PatchettIf anybody had shown me the paperwork for how my life was going to look in five years, I would have said, "No. That is not where I want to go."
Ann PatchettI believe that, more than anything else, this grief of constantly having to face down our own inadequacies is what keeps people from being writers. Forgiveness, therefore, is key. I can't write the book I want to write, but I can and will write the book I am capable of writing. Again and again throughout the course of my life I will forgive myself.
Ann Patchett