Anne McCaffrey Quotes

I wouldn't encourage new writers to start off publishing through electronic media... it still isn't wide enough for the readership they would need to get a good start

I have a shelf of comfort books, which I read when the world closes in on me or something untoward happens

But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in a sentence as possible

Make no judgments where you have no compassion.

I think the Internet, particularly the availability of information, is great. I do a lot of correspondence on-line and have a chat line to talk to my fans as well

I did not have a chance to write novels until my youngest child started school fulltime

I think writers need windows on a view to remind them that a whole world is out there, not the minutiae with which they might be dealing on a close scale

How much can a dragon carry? As much as it thinks it can

What I used to do between writing fits was feed my kids, ride my horse and go shopping for cat and dog food.

The thing is, emotion - if it's visibly felt by the writer - will go through all the processes it takes to publish a story and still hit the reader right in the gut. But you have to really mean it.

Living is struggling to do something impossible; To succeed or die, knowing that you had tried.

Above us, outlined against the brilliant sky, dragons crowded every available perching space on the Rim. And the sun made a gold of every one of them.

Step by step Moment by moment We live through Another day

Tell a story! Don't try to impress your reader with style or vocabulary or neatly turned phrases. Tell the story first!

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.

I'm very fond of the Talent series, and also the Crystal Singer trio.

I do outlines when I'm writing with someone, but they also need to have a certain amount of freedom

Who wills, Can. Who tries, Does. Who loves, Lives.

Because we build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there.

That's such a thrill - a story I wrote at the beginning of my career, and it's still packin' the house.

I have my good days and my bad days, but I don't have as much energy as I used to back when I was young and foolish and didn't count the cost - and it takes a lot - to write

The blackest night must end in dawn, the light dispel the dreamer's fear.

Mostly I'm telling people that they don't have to be victims

I would recommend the short story form, which is a lot harder to write since you have to be so careful with words, until there is plenty of time to doodle through a novel

People have freaked out when I tell them that my dragons are scientifically based... what else can you call a genetically engineered life form?

I didn't mean to stay up all night to finish Windhaven, but I had to!

Drummer, beat, and piper, blowHarper, strike, and soldier, goFree the flame and sear the grassesTil the dawning Red Star passes

I also don't have organized religion on Pern. I figured - since there were four holy wars going on at the time of writing - that religion was one problem Pern didn't need.

A real scientist solves problems, not wails that they are unsolvable.

To cry was to release all sorts of ugly little pressures and tensions. Like waking out of a long, dark dream to a sun-filled day.

Fear has its uses but cowardice has none.

How could she have believed such an artificial life as the theatre was suitable?

I have always used emotion as a writing tool. That goes back to me being on the stage

I didn't raise Todd to be a writer, but he happened to be one anyway

I don't often reread my own books, unless I am going into another in the series and need to refresh my mood when originating the concept

I'm 78, I'm on my pension in Ireland, and all that good stuff

Fight only in direst need Not for lust or petty greed Honor those that do give birth Respect them well for their full worth

The horse, the noblest, bravest, proudest, most courageous and certainly the most perverse and infuriating animal that humans ever domesticated

At age 77, I need the help of someone with more energy than I can now summon to finish a book

But Ship Who Sang remains my favorite story. I really rocked folks with that and still cannot read it aloud myself without weeping at the end

That's what writing is all about, after all, making others see what you have put down on the page and believing that it does, or could, exist and you want to go there.

My eyes are green, my hair is silver and I freckly; the rest is subject to change without notice.

Dragon kind was no less cruel than mankind. The Dragon, at least, acted from besti*l need rather than besti*l greed.”~ A thought by Lessa ~

Fight only in direst needNot for lust or petty greedHonor those that do give birthRespect them well for their full worth

It is time to end a story that began in sorrow and ordeal and has ended in a deep and lasting happiness. May it be so for others.

Harper, treat your words with careFor they may cause joy or despairSing your songs of health and loveOf dragons flaming from above

Harper to your word be trueHolder, crafter you also hewTo honesty, integrity, and respectAll others without regard to intellect

There's something wrong in not appreciating one's own special abilities, my girl. Find your own limitations, yes, but don't limit yourself with false modesty.

Step by stepMoment by momentWe live throughAnother day

speak hard, steal the air.