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 don’t go running or hard hiking. Maria Semple Read Quote
I think that everyone in Seattle, their daily existence, is enriched by all the charitable giving that is courtesy of Microsoft. Maria Semple Read Quote
Even when I was writing ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette,’ I started to appreciate Seattle’s many charms. Maria Semple Read Quote
I just feel like there’s this illicit thrill in reading other people’s mail and spying on their lives. Maria Semple Read Quote
I love epistolary novels and became wildly excited when the form presented itself to me. Maria Semple Read Quote
It’s great to be able to just go with an idea and not have 10 people in a room telling me why I can’t write in a huge mud slide at a school function with 50 kindergartners running around. Maria Semple Read Quote
Some people, especially literary people, they think, ‘I’ll write this original script, and it will be full of ideas. I’ll submit it, and they’ll hire me for television.’ That’s not the case. Maria Semple Read Quote
When you become a parent, that’s a whole new level of life intruding. Nobody tells you how boring and time-sucking it’s going to be! Or how the responsibility feels like an airbag going off in your life. Maria Semple Read Quote
Novels demand a certain complexity of narrative and scope, so it’s necessary for the characters to change. Maria Semple Read Quote
I try to begin with a strong grasp of my characters. Even if it’s schematic, I need it clear in my head who these people are. Maria Semple Read Quote
