Maria Semple quotes

I keep an elaborate calendar for my characters detailing on which dates everything happens. Im constantly revising this as I go along. It gives me the freedom to intricately plot my story, knowing it will at least hold up on a timeline. (Maria Semple)

I'm not too good when exposed to people.

Maria Semple

Ruthless concern with story is what I learned in television.

Maria Semple

I think because I try to keep things as real as I can, or I try to start from a place of reality, I almost don't have the imagination to write a book that's not set where I am.

Maria Semple

My talent isn't so much in traditional research as in finding really smart people and badgering them with questions.

Maria Semple

When you need a good laugh, do you reach for a book? I don't. I expect books to move me deeply and submerge me in another reality. So when a novel makes me roar with laughter, it's always a delightful surprise.

Maria Semple

We need to preserve our neighborhoods, our small business, our local economy.

Maria Semple

'Mad About You' fit my sensibility the most of any show that I worked on, and as a result, it was really fun. It felt like a very natural fit.

Maria Semple

After decades spent in rewrite rooms surrounded by other shouting writers, I discovered that I work best alone. I like being in charge of my time, working out the problems according to my own rhythms and being able to nap. That's a big one, the napping on demand!

Maria Semple

I think that's the most important job of a novelist - to bring authority to their writing.

Maria Semple

There's a happiness that comes from writing that I won't live without. (Maria Semple)

My strength as a TV writer was my total lack of interest in television.

Maria Semple

I drop my kid off at school and then race home, and its a very limited time. I can only do really serious writing for a couple of hours. And then I always go on a walk, I do a one-to-two-hour walk; I dont go running or hard hiking.

Maria Semple

I'd say I never considered myself a great architect. I'm more of a creative problem solver with good taste and a soft spot for logistical nightmares.

Maria Semple

Maria Semple

Maria Semple - Image

Photo: Neon Tommy, CC BY-SA 2.0

Occupation: American Novelist
Born: May 21, 1964
Quotes count: 14

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