210 Quotes by Maria Semple

I drop my kid off at school and then race home, and it's a very limited time. I can only do really serious writing for a couple of hours. And then I always go on a walk, I do a one-to-two-hour walk; I don't go running or hard hiking.

I think thats the most important job of a novelist - to bring authority to their writing.

'Mad About You' fit my sensibility the most of any show that I worked on, and as a result, it was really fun. It felt like a very natural fit.

After decades spent in rewrite rooms surrounded by other shouting writers, I discovered that I work best alone. I like being in charge of my time, working out the problems according to my own rhythms and being able to nap. That's a big one, the napping on demand!

I learned that comedy is born out of strong characters. I won't begin writing a character until I have a clear take on them.

An artist must create. If she doesn't, she will become a menace to society.

And dialogue, I'm good at it, and it's because it's the only thing you have to work with in TV writing.

Both 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette' and my first novel, 'This One is Mine,' are pretty complex on a story level, and fun reads as a result.

Even when I was writing 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette,' I started to appreciate Seattle's many charms.