I like the quiet it takes to pursue an idea the way I pursued 'Hamilton,' but I couldn't write a book, because there's no applause at the end of writing a book.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Getting a book published made me feel a little bit sad. I felt driven by the need to write a book, rather than the need to write. I needed to figure out what was important to me as a writer.
The conclusion I came to was that even if I couldn't sell books, I still liked the process of writing.
I loved writing a book in which, in some ways, it's very, very classical, and in some ways I'm breaking lots of rules about what you can do and what you can't do.
Writing a novel is an intense and lonely business, but you have the reward at the end of a very direct dialogue between you and the reader.
I can't imagine writing a novel without some sound. When you're facing a few hundred blank pages, silence can be cold.
I've always wanted to have a book published - it was a dream of mine, but the thought of actually writing a book made me feel really sick.
It may be important to write a book that doesn't come up to what I would like to have rather than to write no book at all.
I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it and experiencing the challenge.
It had to be a book that held my attention and kept me wanting to read it; when my husband finished 'The Road', I started it straight away and didn't put it down until I finished - it was such an achievement and relief to know that I could read, comprehend and, most importantly, enjoy a book!
I'm not a writer who refuses to talk about a book until I've finished.