I want to know why I read as a child with such a frantic appetite, why I sucked the words off the page with such an edge of desperation.
I really liked the idea of creating a journal myself. It's like the way I clear my throat. I write a page every day, maybe 500 words. It could be about something I'm specifically worried about in the new novel; it could be a question I want answered; it could be something that's going on in my personal life. I just use it as an exercise.
A few years ago, I bought an old red bicycle with the words Free Spirit written across its side - which is exactly what I felt like when I rode it down the street in a tie-dyed dress.
It must have been fascinating for Bono to have Johnny Cash do a cover of his song, and hear how he translates the words that he has used. And it would be fascinating to see a great director do his take on my work.
There are two words for everything.
If the rules of a language are followed, words usually make sense. But these very rules can stir the impulse to rebel. We're obliged to keep trying to convey meaning through correct sentences. After a while, the good-soldier rigidity of polished prose can begin to seem dull, and it gets harder to resist the temptation of nonsense.
I love British cursing - the cadence of it, the joy in the sound of the words, and the vulgarity of it.
In my own words, I played some significant part in changing the social-sexual values of our time. I had a lot of fun in the process.
I think that anyone who likes writing views 'The New Yorker' as the, you know, pinnacle of the publishing world. If you get 50 words published in 'The New Yorker,' it's more important than 50 articles in other places. So, would I love to one day write for them? I guess. But that's not my sole ambition.
The miracle of turning inklings into thoughts and thoughts into words and words into metal and print and ink never palls for me.
Let's not mince words: Everest doesn't attract a whole lot of well-balanced folks. The self-selection process tends to weed out the cautious and the sensible in favor of those who are single-minded and incredibly driven. Which is a big reason the mountain is so dangerous.
In all seriousness, people think that it's the ideas that are important. Well, everyone has ideas, all the time. I tend to write mine down and remember them, but at some point you have to apply the bum to the seat and knock out about sixty five thousand words - that's how long a novel is.
Hermione uses all these big long tongue twister words. I don't know what she's going on about half the time!
'Content' is a word that has never sat well with me. Like 'maturity'. They are two words I've never liked. I think they imply some sort of decay. A settling.
I kind of push myself through my words and how I carry myself.
I made a very concerted decision to go to drama school in the United States. But I did have the opportunity to go to Britain's Central School of Speech and Drama, and my dad and I had a few tense words about that. He wanted me to go to British drama school.
Taxes are like abortion, and not just because both are grotesque procedures supported by Democrats. You're for them or against them. Taxes go up or down; government raises taxes or lowers them. But Democrats will not let the words 'abortion' or 'tax hikes' pass their lips.
If you truly believe in a united Jerusalem, deeds have to be more than words. We need a real united Jerusalem. It takes determination, audacity, and money to provide full services and law enforcement in the entire city.
I've learned never to try and force words to come.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to think that what you need to write a novel is imagination, creativity and a facility with words. Yes, you need all those things, but a novel is a highly complex organism that needs to be dealt with in quite a logical manner.
All our actions, as well as our thoughts and words, should praise Him who always blesses us.
Human behavior in the midst of hardship caught my attention very early on, and my first stories were all pictures, no words.
I am not altogether confident of my ability to put my thoughts into words: My texts are usually better after an editor has hacked away at them, and I am used to both editing and being edited. Which is to say that I am not oversensitive in such matters.
Twitter is the marriage of full-tilt narcissism and full-tilt voyeurism that has finally collided in 140 words.
There is a responsibility as president to choose your words carefully, especially on foreign policy, and to speak as clearly as possible.
When I was 14 years old, I was crazy about Dr. Seuss. I loved the words he made up, and I just thought, 'Well, if he can make up words, then I can make up words.'
My style of working is I'll often be behind the camera, or right next to the camera yelling words at people, like, 'Say this, say this! Say it this way!' I'll straight-up give Anthony Hopkins a line reading. I don't care.
As a writer myself, my job has very often been to also write on the job. So you get the script and a vague idea of how the scene might work, and you then add funny words or change the script. I'm not the world's best writer or the world's best actor, but I can do that thing where I can fix - or ruin - fix-slash-ruin, add quirk, add value.
Especially with the live, just the way I curve words, it's about expression. It's so emotive, to be able to release these words into a mike. It really emphasizes this insane tingle down my spine whenever I play.
I don't think music affects what words I choose to type in what order, within what punctuation, at this point, because I'm rereading and editing each sentence, at this point, in my published books, probably 100-150 times each, on average, and listening to probably 20-60 different songs in that time.
There are so many little girls who follow me and look up to me. I'm their role model, so I have to make sure I'm always being professional and not putting any swear words out there - just really putting positive things out there on the Internet.
I would always be embarrassed to read out loud in class because I would transpose words and letters and things.
I know it sounds silly, but in auditions for film or TV, the words aren't as important - you need to get into the character and have the gist of the scene. But in theater, if you don't do it word for word, then you throw off your scene partner.
I don't think you can bury words. I think the more you try to dismiss them, the more power you give to them, the more circulation they have.
Writers, directors often can get too precious with their words.
If you get rid of music, images, videos, words and literature from the smartphone, you just have a simple phone that would be worth $50.
