123 Quotes by Ben Fountain

I'm a writer, not an editor, and though the editing rarely cut into my writing time, it did take away from that walking-around-thinking-about-it-when-you're-not-thinking-about-it time that I think is important for writers. When you're half-thinking about what you're working on while driving, cooking . . . just letting things sift and settle, come to you.

I quit law in 1988 to start writing, and it took me 17 years from that point to get a book contract. I guess you can say I was on the slow train.

I realized I was never going to have any peace with myself unless I made an honest stab at trying to write.

If you want to write, then write; if you don't want to write, then don't write. I fell into the former category, and I just made the decision that I'd keep on because I liked it and might someday do something decent.

The funny thing is, about the time I let go of any aspiration toward worldly success, that's about the time I started writing decent work.

It took me 10 years to write a story that pleased me - that I could look at after it was published and not cringe.

I kept going back while I was writing the novel - which never sold, may it rest in peace - and by the time it was finished I had too many connections to Haiti to walk away.

It's amazing what happens when you stick yourself in a place and let things take their more or less natural course.

It is sort of weird being honored for the worst day of your life.