Paul Whybrow's latest activity

The distinction between literary and genre fiction is stupid and pernicious. It dates back to a feud between Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James. James won, and it split literature into two streams. But it's a totally false dichotomy. George...

“The future is uncertain… but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity.” Ilya Prigogine

I kept a diary right after I was born. Day 1: Tired from the move. Day 2: Everyone thinks I'm an idiot. Steven Wright

To enter into your own mind you need to be armed to the teeth. Paul Valéry

The chief requirement of the good life, is to live without any image of oneself. Iris Murdoch

Finished things cease to be a shelter for the spirit; but work in progress is a delight. Max Frisch

To bear troubles with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden. Seneca

A man should live if only to satisfy his curiosity. Yiddish Proverb

Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your...

But it was in this moment, lying in bed lare at night, that I first realized that the voice in my head - the running commentary that had dominated my field of consciousness since I could remember - was kind of an asshole. Dan Harris

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” Karen Lamb

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” T. S. Eliot

“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” Melody Beattie

This year's book, at midnight turns to footnote in the next. Terri Guilemets

In the end it all comes down to this: you have a choice (or more accurately a rolling tangle of choices) between giving your work your best shot and risking that it will not make you happy, or not giving it your best shot – and thereby...