Quote

Do be kind to yourself. Fill pages as quickly as possible double space, or write on every second line. Regard every new page as a small triumph. Until you get to page 50. Then calm down, and start worrying about the quality. Do feel anxiety - it's the job.

Roddy Doyle

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Roddy Doyle
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: May 8
Lecturer
Novelist
Playwright
Screenwriter
Writer
Dublin city
Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill
Ruaidhri O Duill
Writing
Quality
Calm
Every
Possible
Pages
Worrying
Kind
Start
Regard
Double
Space
Line
Triumph
Jobs
Second
Fill
Write
Worry
Page
Feel
Lines
Quickly
Feels
Small
Anxiety

More quotes by Roddy Doyle

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When you grow up on an island, what matters is how you stand to the sea.
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Schools don't really allow failure and yet it's part of any endeavour, not just writing.
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My novels come from within me they are things I feel I want to do.
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My parents were sixty years married.
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She'd tried her hand at most things, but drew the line at honesty.
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The Irish are the niggers of Europe, lads.
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The best way to reveal a character is to get them to open their mouths.
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If you're from Dublin, for example, chances are you live with your family, if you're lucky enough to, right up to the mid-20s. And most of the people I know, when they finally sort of set off on their own, they don't stray all that far.
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If you are a writer you're at home, which means you're out of touch. You have to make excuses to get out there and look at how the world is changing.
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I've been asked why does Ireland produce so many great musicians, and the answer is it doesn't. When you count the great musicians Ireland has given the world in the last 20 years, you can do it on one hand.
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I like naming characters.
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When I was a kid, if you didn't speak Irish, you really wanted to. And you played Gaelic games and you didn't pay any attention to what was happening in the outside world, because really, the - Ireland was the center of the universe. And I don't think that's the case anymore, although, admittedly, it is the center of the universe.
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Sometimes adults seem as though they have cut a chord from being a child.
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The problem with being Irish... is having 'Riverdance' on your back. It's a burden at times.
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I write short stories when a little idea occurs to me, that I know isn't a part of a novel that will stand by itself and should be concentrated.
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I wouldn't go out of my way to experience the indignity of middle-age just because it might be good meat for a story.
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She's a pot-of-tea-before-I-say-boo-to-you woman. There's always a pile of warm teabags in the sink when I come down, like what a horse would leave behind.
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When I was growing up, the exam system didn't allow you to write fiction, so you never did.
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No matter how close to personal experience a story might be, inevitably you are going to get to a part that isn't yours and, actually, whether it happened or not becomes irrelevant. It is all about choosing the right words.
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Some of the people who look the most normal are probably the maddest people trying to look normal.
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