We have different kinds of intimacy with many, many people. I'm disappointed by well-written novels that only deal with two or three people.
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 PatchettI really do think that our subconscious gets corrupted with fear, and fear is how news media - all media - makes us [watch] long enough to get to the Tide commercial. That's all it's about. Generating fear so that we can buy the proper laundry detergent.
Ann PatchettI don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.
Ann Patchett