At the same time that you've got to open yourself up to the fact that experience is going to teach you year after year, decade after decade. I remember I very badly wanted to write a newspaper column when I was only 21 years old, and I went to my editor and told him that, and he said, "You're a really good writer, but you haven't lived long enough to be qualified to live out loud."
Anna QuindlenWhen you look at the women that have made a real difference in the world throughout history, what theyโve done has almost always been defined by fearlessness. Thatโs something I came to at a certain point; I wish Iโd come to it younger. Stop looking over your shoulder โ thereโs nobody who matters back there.
Anna QuindlenI think what saved me, as a writer, is that there are really two breaking points in my life. One was when I was 19 and my mother died, and one was when I was 31 and my first child was born. And that sort of gave me a kind of rebirth that I think has been invaluable to me as a novelist, in terms of seeing the world anew.
Anna QuindlenI was a kid who sometimes got in trouble because I couldn't keep my mouth shut, which turned out to be an advantage when I became an opinion columnist.
Anna Quindlen