I might enjoy writing some ghost stories set in Japan because their whole idea about the spirit world is so interesting.
I have an agent, John Brockman, who is an agent to many academic authors like Dan Gilbert and Steven Pinker, and he's very good at conning academics into writing books. He pulled this trick on me.
When writing 'Give and Take' and 'Originals,' the predominant emotion for me was curiosity.
I was writing poetry, and the Mountain Goats was an outgrowth of that.
All of my writing is God-given.
What I like about writing is the sense of godlike power it gives you.
I love '30 Rock.' It's one of my favorite shows. It's certainly the gold standard of comedy writing.
Writing a song is so personal. You have to have trust in someone you're working with; otherwise, you're not gonna come out with something that's really you.
Now I'm fortunate to have a good band in CA, and play many solo gigs as well. My point is that I stopped playing in bands and played solo for four years, to get back into the groove and pulse of writing and singing and who I am on stage.
I always got good grades in creative writing from elementary school on up.
I don't know if I have good habits, but I'm very devoted to writing. I'm very compulsive about having a project, at least one, and trying to follow the business as much as I can. I keep on top of all the entertainment business news.
Factoring in millions of people when I'm writing a song is not a good idea. I don't ever do it.
I suppose, because I've been able to make a very good living writing books, that going out and finding another million dollars under the sea is not the fascination. The fascination is in finding the ship.
Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.
I may not have become a good writer, but I managed to make a living out of writing.
Good writing is like a windowpane.
All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.
I suppose with any good writing and interesting characters, you can have that awfully overused word: a journey.
Good writing is good writing, but that doesn't mean you can't orchestrate it or tweak it.
My only close-to-game-plan is to follow good writing. If the writing is in TV or if it's in theater or in film, that's it. It doesn't really matter what the medium is.
