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" I had no plan to write a western novel, and when I realized it was happening, I was pretty surprised by it. But you have to go with what feels right. "
Patrick deWitt
Right
You
Go
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" I don't know that happy people are interesting to write about - or to read about. "
Patrick deWitt
Happy
Interesting
Know
" By the time I left the bar, I was 30. I was a dishwasher. They call it a bar-back, but essentially, I washed dishes for a living. I had no high-school diploma, I had no agent, and my literary successes were non-existent... but it was the only thing I ever wanted to do, so I did feel trapped. "
Patrick deWitt
Trapped
Feel
Living
" Unfunny people should be locked up, the key tossed into a smelter. "
Patrick deWitt
Key
People
Should
" Whenever we changed schools, we had to make a new set of friends. At the time, of course, I hated it. But looking back now, I'm really glad I did, because it forces independence on you. "
Patrick deWitt
Friends
Looking Back
Looking
" I come by writing dialogue fairly naturally, I've got a chatty family; I'm a bit of a voyeur, and if I'm ever in a public place, I automatically find myself listening. "
Patrick deWitt
Myself
Writing
Find
" A lot of authors, judging by their list, will put anything out that they finish... That's the worst model I've heard of in my life. It's just idiotic. Why wouldn't you just wait for the good ones? "
Patrick deWitt
You
Wait
My Life
" The impetus for 'The Sisters Brothers' was it occurred to me that there was no neurosis in westerns, or there's a minimal amount of it. "
Patrick deWitt
Sisters
Minimal
Me
" Every industry has slack times, and everyone has bad days at work. "
Patrick deWitt
Bad Days
Work
Days
" I am a bit prudish, I think. It's hard for me to write about sex, and I don't really care to read about it, either. "
Patrick deWitt
Think
Sex
Care
" Some deeper part of me wants to write comical dialogue; I'd be foolish to not follow that impulse. Now I recognize that if there's energy to a section of work, you go where the energy is. It's a living thing, and you just follow it. "
Patrick deWitt
Work
Me
Energy
" I haven't read hardly any Westerns, to tell you the truth. "
Patrick deWitt
Hardly
You
Westerns
" I've been surprised at how much an unknown like myself can accomplish just by reaching out to people and pleading my case. Quotes for the book cover, reviews and interviews, readings and radio appearances - all this by simply moving ahead and making contact with folks I thought might enjoy the writing. "
Patrick deWitt
Myself
Writing
People
" The hardest thing in the world for a writer is to amass a readership. So many good books come out, and so many good books disappear. "
Patrick deWitt
Good
Books
World
" Lies can be wonderful things, and when a lie is told artfully, if it's done with a degree of craftsmanship, I can't help but admire the liar. "
Patrick deWitt
Done
Help
Admire
" When you meet someone you love, whether or not they love you back, something occurs in you that makes you want to improve yourself. "
Patrick deWitt
You
Back
Love
" I felt like love has been underrepresented - unironic love, just actually really falling in love. "
Patrick deWitt
Love
Falling
Falling In Love
" I'm never doing anything by rote. I'm only on thin ice, and I think that that's a good place to be. I feel like when you push yourself like that, the rewards can be pretty great. "
Patrick deWitt
Yourself
Good
Great
" Humorous writing is often thought of as substandard in comparison to work with a more dramatic or tragic intent. I don't know what to say to this except that I disagree wholeheartedly. "
Patrick deWitt
Work
More
Know
" I don't know that I'd call myself an optimist. "
Patrick deWitt
Optimist
Call
Know
" I wrote for so many years in a bubble, the way everyone does, and there were large swaths of time where you think you're doing this for nothing. An audience is crucial, a back and forth with the invisible readers. "
Patrick deWitt
Time
Think
Nothing
" I am a homebody, something that lends itself to my profession. "
Patrick deWitt
Homebody
Profession
Something
" At the age of seventeen, I decided I would spend my life writing fiction. I didn't know what this entailed, exactly - a room, I supposed. A room and books and paper and solitude. "
Patrick deWitt
Solitude
My Life
Life
" A lot of my favourite books - I should say, not much happens in the books! It's much more about the points of view of the author more than anything else. "
Patrick deWitt
More
View
Books
" The theme of luck comes up a lot. It's something I thought about before, why some people are lucky and some people aren't lucky. It seems like some people you meet can sort of cultivate luck, and I've always been fascinated by that. "
Patrick deWitt
Thought
You
People
" One of the nice things about writing is you can take essentially painful things in your life and turn them into something that might be useful, or at least entertaining, to somebody else. "
Patrick deWitt
Life
Nice
Painful
" I've got a publicist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who's been working little miracles for me, but it's true the budgets aren't what they once were in terms of advertisement and book tours. "
Patrick deWitt
True
Me
Book
" I have a paranoia that 'Ablutions' is the best thing I'll ever do. "
Patrick deWitt
Paranoia
Best
Thing
" The question of likability is a bit of a puzzler for me. You know, I don't write people with likability in mind. It's more whether or not I find them compelling. "
Patrick deWitt
You
Me
Find
" I think of myself as somebody who, in a moment-to-moment way, I'm quite happy. But I think I am a bit doubtful and wary of true happiness, and, like a lot of my friends, there's been a good degree of self-sabotage. "
Patrick deWitt
Myself
Happy
Good
" I was halfway through a rough draft of 'The Sisters Brothers' when it came time to start the 'Terri' adaptation. "
Patrick deWitt
Time
Halfway
Start