Quote

I don't tell anyone how to write and no one tells me.

I just believe that young people need to be able to learn how to write in their own voice. Just like a musician, you pride yourself on having your own distinct sound.

The trick to writing for people is, you have to be able to turn them on in your head. And know how they'd word something or how they'd inflect it.

You have to write badly to write at all. If it's crappy, I will rewrite it later. But it will be mine. You can hear the resonance of an artist who goes into herself.

When I write, I want something to sound good itself.

I'm not sure there are too many people who write what I write.

Sometimes you find your voice by trying to write like people, and sometimes you find it by trying to write unlike people.

Writers have to have a knack for listening. I need to be able to hear what is being said to me by the voices I create.

Every writer must find a way of writing that tells the reader: This is me and no one else. The Voice can be idiosyncratic, but it cannot be obscure. It is a blend of style and content and intent and rhythm and pure personality.

I have yet to have a successful outcome of sitting in a room with someone and trying to write a song. The way that I generally co-write is that someone else writes the music or part of the music.