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I spent the first twenty years of my writing career preparing for the mystery genre, which is my favorite literary form.

Sue Grafton

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Sue Grafton
Age: 77 †
Born: 1940
Born: April 24
Died: 2017
Died: December 28
Actor
Author
Journalist
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
Louisville
Kentucky
Sue Taylor Grafton
Careers
Literary
Form
Genre
Firsts
Twenty
First
Twenties
Writing
Favorite
Years
Spent
Mystery
Selflessness
Career
Preparing

More quotes by Sue Grafton

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I write because it's all I know how to do. Writing is my anchor and my purpose. My life is informed by writing, whether the work is going well or I'm stuck in the hell of writer's block, which I'm happy to report only occurs about once a day.
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You never know which people will affect your life.
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You can’t save others from themselves because those who make a perpetual muddle of their lives don’t appreciate your interfering with the drama they’ve created. They want your poor-sweet-baby sympathy, but they don’t want to change.
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People in California seem to age at a different rate than the rest of the country. Maybe it's the passion for diet and exercise, maybe the popularity of cosmetic surgery. Or maybe we're afflicted with such a horror of aging that we've halted the process psychically.
Sue Grafton
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That's the way the system works. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you.
Sue Grafton
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You can't make anyone love you and you can't stop anyone from dying.
Sue Grafton
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any mystery writer is both magician and moralist ... two species of artist in short supply.
Sue Grafton
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The character of Rosie is based on a woman who used to live in the same apartment building I lived in many years ago. She's taken on a life of her own, of course.
Sue Grafton
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You write one book and you're ready for fame and fortune. I don't know that people are spending the time and attention on learning how to write-which takes years. Everybody sees the success stories.
Sue Grafton
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We all need to look into the dark side of our nature - that's where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds pieces of us we're busy denying.
Sue Grafton
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Pretending to be 'normal' is a lot harder than you think.
Sue Grafton
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Emotion doesn't travel in a straight line. Like water, our feelings trickle down through cracks and crevices, seeking out the little pockets of neediness and neglect, the hairline fractures in our character usually hidden from public view.
Sue Grafton
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After my years in Hollywood, I got tired of apologizing for work that really wasn't mine to begin with.
Sue Grafton
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A woman should never, never, never be financially dependent to anyone, especially a man, because the minute you were dependent, you could be abused.
Sue Grafton
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Writing isn't about the destination-writing is the journey that transforms the soul and gives meaning to all else.
Sue Grafton
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I focus on the writing and let the rest of the process take care of itself. I've learned to trust my own instincts and I've also learned to take risks.
Sue Grafton
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I only get writer's block about once a day.
Sue Grafton
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Thinking is hard work, which is why you don't see many people doing it.
Sue Grafton
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I started writing seriously when I was 18, wrote my first novel when I was 22, and I've never stopped writing since.
Sue Grafton
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I hate nature. I really do. Nature is composed entirely of sticks, dirt, fall-down places, biting and stinging things, and savageries too numerous to list. And I'm not the only one who feels this way. Man has been building cities since the year oughty-ought, just to get away from this stuff.
Sue Grafton