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All Quotes by author - Susan Isaacs
" As for writing novels - it's what I've done for 30 some-odd years. I can't suddenly say I'm going to take up golf. I need something in my life. As long as I can write a coherent sentence, I'll keep at it. "
Life
Long
My Life
" As soon as someone is coming from New York, I automatically think I have to get dressed up. "
New York
Dressed
Think
" At the beginning, I really wanted to be home with my kid. I was a product of my generation. But in the suburbs, you are very isolated, really alone. "
Beginning
Alone
You
" Being a novelist is the adult version of a kid creating a make-believe world. But unlike a child, a writer of fiction has to come up with a structured story, one that has as much meaning for others as it has for her. "
Creating
World
Story
" Could there be a cowgirl in my future? You know, I never know what character is going to come and tap me on the shoulder and say, 'Hey, tell my story.' So maybe the next one will have boots. "
Me
You
Story
" Everyone has early fiction fantasies, but it wasn't until my second child Betsy was born that I allowed the urge to write a novel bubble up. "
Everyone
Born
Bubble
" For a novelist, no matter what, it's a complete work, even if it's not published. But if you write a screenplay, and it's not performed, then it's a sad and frustrating experience. "
Matter
Even
You
" I am married to a happy camper. He's a criminal lawyer who thinks people are inherently good and will befriend him. His father, at 93, is the same way. "
Happy
Way
People
" I can only write about two or three pages of fiction a day. "
Only
Day
Three
" I hate when people say, 'Oh, they laughed all the way to the bank.' That's nonsense because the most cynical, unhappy people are Hollywood screenwriters. They earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for work that's never made. "
People
Work
Hate
" I have such admiration for Whoopi Goldberg as an actress and a general smart person. "
Person
Actress
Admiration
" I like to show ordinary people reacting to extraordinary circumstances. It's an opportunity for adventure, and I like women to have adventures. There's been far too little of it with women. "
Women
People
Adventure
" I love being a grandparent. I'm one of those you want to avoid - I pull out the iPhone and say, 'Hey, wanna see my camera roll?' "
You
See
Want
" I must have been yearning for some Jewish content beyond my genetic makeup because soon after my 21st birthday, I noticed I was no longer dating WASPs. "
Dating
Birthday
Been
" I never failed at anything in fiction. "
Fiction
Failed
Anything
" I see myself as writing biographies, the complete story of someone's life. "
Myself
Someone
Story
" It's no coincidence that I began writing the day my daughter started school. I knew everything I knew before I began to write, but I was raising two children and didn't have the time to get to the typewriter. "
Time
School
Day
" It's not all 'Jane Eyre' out there. In her sweet, honorable, slightly passive-aggressive way, Jane was as perfect as a protagonist can get while remaining interesting; in fact, she's one of my favorites. But most characters are more morally ambiguous. "
Interesting
Perfect
She
" It's not that I'm apolitical... In my youth, I was a freelance political speechwriter, which taught me a lot about writing fiction, I must add. "
Youth
Writing
Political
" I've had lots of commercial success. I've also had some terrible reviews and some wonderful reviews. "
Wonderful
Terrible
Success
" I wanted to be a cowgirl... But, you know, it was pointed out to me that, you know, growing up in Brooklyn, there wasn't much opportunity... for cowgirlery. "
Opportunity
You
Growing Up
" I was always the weirdo who wanted to have an egalitarian service in synagogue and felt I was always going against the grain. "
Going
Weirdo
Service
" Just as you can accept Miss Marple going to tea with the vicar, there's no reason why Long Island can't have a universality to it. "
Tea
Island
Accept
" My first novel, 'Compromising Positions,' was a whodunit. The protagonist was a Long Island Jewish housewife who turns private investigator. But she was Jewish the way I was: lighting Sabbath candles but envying her Protestant and Catholic friends' December decorating options. "
She
Way
Friends
" Our culture is so celebrity-obsessed that for individuals to show they matter, they need to display their intimacy to fame. "
Fame
Our
Culture
" Style is not my long suit, but I'm really fascinated by it. "
Really
Long
Suit
" There are days where I lose track of time, of place, of everything else, because I've been transported to another universe. "
Lose
Universe
Time
" There are so many different worlds in Long Island. That's why it's so fascinating. Between Great Neck and Montauk, there are 10,000 worlds. "
Why
Great
Island
" There is no 'right' way to begin a novel, but for me, plot has to wait. The character comes first. "
Right
Character
First
" We joined a Conservative synagogue. I began learning through engagement, rote and reading. Suddenly, I belonged... well, to the extent that a novelist can ever feel she is part of a group; we may be part of a minyan, but we're not fully merged into the community. "
Reading
She
Learning
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