Writing is like a bird-watcher watching for birds: the stories are there: you just have to train yourself to look for them.
BARBARA MERTZSometimes the characters develop almost without your knowing it. You find them doing things you hadn’t planned on, and then I have to go back to page 42 and fix things. I’m not recommending it as a way to write. It’s very sloppy, but it works for me.
More Barbara Mertz Quotes
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I would never have supposed that inexperienced girl was capable of such cold-blooded, calculating manipulation!
BARBARA MERTZ -
Loving someone condemns you to a lifetime of fear. You become painfully conscious of how fragile people are – bundles of brittle bones and vulnerable flesh, breeding grounds for billions of deadly germs and horrible diseases.
BARBARA MERTZ -
There are too many people in the world as it is, but the supply of ancient manuscripts is severely limited.
BARBARA MERTZ -
If someone lies down and invites you to trample upon him, you are a remarkable individual if you decline the invitation.
BARBARA MERTZ -
I don’t think she realized how much she cared for him, or he for her, until the end. Hasn’t someone said a woman may be known by the men who love her enough to die for her? (If they haven’t, I claim the credit myself.)
BARBARA MERTZ -
To argue without knowledge is like trying to weave without thread.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Another dead body. Every year it is the same. Every year, another dead body.
BARBARA MERTZ -
The only way to do it is to do it: by writing, writing, writing.
BARBARA MERTZ -
…Nefret said with a gusty sigh, ‘Well, that’s done it. We may as well join in, Ramses, family arguments are the favorite form of amusement here and this looks like being a loud one.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Spring is always cruel, with its false promise of resurrection.
BARBARA MERTZ -
When one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one’s footing.
BARBARA MERTZ -
If you take a man by surprise, and behave with sufficient arrogance, he will generally do what you ask. -Emerson
BARBARA MERTZ -
Most men are reasonably useful in a crisis. The difficulty lies in convincing them that the situation has reached a critical point
BARBARA MERTZ -
I do hope you have some money. I’m getting tired of hitting people.
BARBARA MERTZ -
Marriage, in my view, should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries.
BARBARA MERTZ