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It's true that writing is a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them.

Anne Tyler

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Anne Tyler
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: October 25
Librarian
Novelist
Short Story Writer
Writer
Minneapolis
Minnesota
Groups
Solitary
True
Imaginary
Character
Occupation
Writing
Surprised
Much
Offer
Would
Group
Offers
Characters
Companionship

More quotes by Anne Tyler

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Liam really enjoyed a good movie. He found it restful to watch people's conversations without being expected to join in. But he always felt sort of lonesome if he didn't have someone next to him to nudge in the ribs at the good parts.
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Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing.
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It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him.
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I didn't really choose to write I more or less fell into it.
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... everyone must play his role.
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While armchair travelers dream of going places, traveling armchairs dream of staying put.
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He was wondering if there was some cryptic, cultish mark on his door that told all the crazy people he'd have trouble saying no.
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But I don't think people take bad advice. They've got intuition too, you know. In fact I'd be surprised if they take any advice at all.
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Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
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Just because we're related doesn't mean we are any good at understanding each other.
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I was standing in the schoolyard waiting for a child when another mother came up to me. Have you found work yet? she asked. Or are you still just writing?
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He wished he had inhabited more of his life, used it better, filled it fuller.
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I'll write maybe one long paragraph describing the events, then a page or two breaking the events into chapters, and then reams of pages delving into my characters. After that, I'm ready to begin
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No couple buying wedding rings wants to be reminded that someday one of them will have to accept the other one's ring from a nurse or an undertaker.
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I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get
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I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless?
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For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood.
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(About parenting:) ... all that tedium, broken up by little spurts of high drama.
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I can never tell ahead of time which book will give me trouble - some balk every step of the way, others seem to write themselves - but certainly the mechanics of writing, finding the time and the psychic space, are easier now that my children are grown.
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...it's closeness that does you in. Never get too close to people, son.
Anne Tyler