

“Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“To write is human, to edit is divine.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“Reading at meals is considered rude in polite society, but if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up. ”
― On Writing A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing A Memoir of the Craft

“I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Mackenzie’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Mackenzie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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