I saw that my best work was my most personal work, which is odd, because my fiction is very far afield and has nothing to do with my life.
Ann PatchettBut we cannot unbraid the story of another personโs life and take out all the parts that donโt suit our purposes and put forth only the ones that do.
Ann PatchettDo you want to do this thing? Sit down and do it. Are you not writing? Keep sitting there. Does it not feel right? Keep sitting there. Think of yourself as a monk walking the path to enlightenment. Think of yourself as a high school senior wanting to be a neurosurgeon. Is it possible? Yes. Is there some shortcut? Not one I've found. Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.
Ann Patchett