Words matter. These are the best Carolyn Chute Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I love a big book, but it’s what most people like which makes commerce sing.
I never wanted to be a writer. I still don’t.
When I write, I just let my characters go, the way I let life go.
I am a person who can’t teach writing or make a living in any public way, as I get confused when interrupted or overstimulated. In a classroom or crowded room, I all but blank out. So my only income is from novels.
People say, ‘Well, why don’t they get another job, why don’t they pick themselves up by their bootstraps?’ Well, the people that say that probably have the kind of jobs where they don’t work that hard, so maybe they could have another job.
There’s no writer’s block; there’s only distraction.
I have lived poverty. I didn’t choose it. No one would choose humiliation, pain, and rage.
It doesn’t matter that millions read as long as you share it with somebody. So I don’t really think about readers or editors. You especially should never think of editors – especially never think about reviewers.
Sometimes a manuscript is like bread dough. You have to abuse it.
Whenever I write, I write what I find to be the way people are. I never use any symbolism at all, but if you write as true to life as you possibly can, people will see symbolism. They’ll all see different symbolism, but they’re apt to because you can see it in life.
You go through your life feeling like an outsider, and you respond to society in a different way when you feel like an outsider.
Every time I think I know what’s right and wrong, I end up being wrong. All I want to do is explore. I want to see what people would do. I say, ‘What would this person do in this situation?’ and I write it down. I’m not writing manifestos of my political views.
When we go out in the world together, we don’t get beat down.
We need to stay together, to spread the truth like religion. It’s a lonely, scary road, and we’ve got to walk it together.
When I’m not writing, I do a lot of research reading on the shape of civilization. Fiction can be a lot of different things… but I feel like it’s my job to write about the way things are.
When people do come face to face with each other as human beings, they begin to understand each other better.
I like starting projects in January. That’s the best time to start something. It’s so inward.
Your community is your survival.
