Latest Theodora Goss Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Writers: believe! And go do the work . . .

  Theodora Goss

  Believe

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Sometimes you have to follow your uncommon sense.

  Theodora Goss

  Common Sense, Sometimes, Uncommon

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• My uncommon sense told me to write this book [Turn and blossom], even though I was in the middle of making final revisions to my dissertation! Common sense would have said, finish the dissertation and get a good, solid academic position. But instead, I got to do something that no one else has done, because I don't think anyone has written a book quite like this one. And look at how beautiful it is!

  Theodora Goss

  Beautiful, Book, Writing

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I talked on my blog recently about "uncommon sense." Common sense is called "common" because it reflects cultural consensus. It's common sense to get a good job and save for retirement. But I think we all also have an "uncommon sense," an individual voice that tells us what we're meant to do.

  Theodora Goss

  Retirement, Jobs, Thinking

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• It's very difficult to put in the work unless you believe that what you're doing is significant in some way.

  Theodora Goss

  Believe, Way, Significant

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• If you believe you have a voice and something to say, chances are you do, and the world needs you to do whatever you're drawn to do. So you should do it.

  Theodora Goss

  Believe, Voice, World

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I see so many talented writers who have difficulties with that. And if you don't believe it's important, you won't put in the work you need to.

  Theodora Goss

  Believe, Important, Needs

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Writing is an art like other arts. Dancers don't dance every once in a while. Musicians don't stop practicing. They are dedicated to what they do.

  Theodora Goss

  Art, Writing, Dancer

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Believe in the importance of your art.

  Theodora Goss

  Art, Believe, Importance

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I'm writinng my first full-length novel, which is based on a novella I wrote called "The Mad Scientist's Daughter." I'm having a wonderful time with it, but of course it's presenting challenges as well. Stories always do, no matter what they are.

  Theodora Goss

  Daughter, Mad, Challenges

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Delia Sherman once told me that you never learn to write a story. You only learn to write the story you are currently writing. You have to learn how to write the next story all over again. And she's absolutely right.

  Theodora Goss

  Writing, Stories, Next

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I worry very much that people won't like it, or will think it's simply silly. But I have a post-it note above my desk that says "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" And if I weren't afraid, I would do a poetry collection.

  Theodora Goss

  Silly, Thinking, People

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Of course, with Papaveria Press, you know the book itself is going to be beautiful.

  Theodora Goss

  Beautiful, Book, Courses

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• When we tell stories about things that are important - love, fear, beauty - we change the way people think about the world. Writers are, or should be, truth-tellers even when the stories themselves are fantasy.

  Theodora Goss

  Thinking, People, Important

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I'm working on a poetry collection for Papaveria Press . It fills me with trepidation - poetry is something I'm much more self-conscious about than prose.

  Theodora Goss

  Self, Conscious, Poetry Is

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Understanding what is going on in the world today inspires me in a negative sense because there's so much about it that I don't like - political stupidity, environmental degradation, etc. And that makes me want to change it, to make a difference in the world.

  Theodora Goss

  Differences, Stupidity, Political

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Nature inspires me continually. Today, I can look out my window and see the entire world covered with snow. It's like Narnia under the White Witch.

  Theodora Goss

  White, Snow, Inspire

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• If you look at the natural world, really look at it, it's always magical.

  Theodora Goss

  Looks, World, Natural

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Jorge Luis Borges wrote a poem when he was in his 80s about one day writing the book that would justify him. This was long after he had become one of the great masters, a writer everyone looks up to and reveres. As artists, I don't think we ever see ourselves as done. We always think we're at the beginning . . .

  Theodora Goss

  Book, Writing, Thinking

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Art inspires me. Looking at art in a museum, listening to music, reading the works of other writers.

  Theodora Goss

  Art, Reading, Museums

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• Now that The Thorn and the Blossom has come out and I'm done with my doctoral degree (yes, I'm finally Dr. Goss), I'm turning to longer projects.

  Theodora Goss

  Degrees, Drs, Done

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I co-edited an anthology called Interfictions with Delia Sherman and wrote a short scholarly book on three women poets called Voices from Fairyland: The Fantastical Poems of Mary Coleridge, Charlotte Mew, and Sylvia Townsend Warner. So I've been busy, but I haven't had time to write a novel.

  Theodora Goss

  Book, Writing, Voice

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I had a short story collection come out in 2006, and then I couldn't work on large projects for a long time because I was finishing my doctoral degree.

  Theodora Goss

  Long, Finishing, Degrees

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• The Thorn and the Blossom isn't just a love story. It's about two people who decide what they actually want to do artistically, despite discouragement. In some ways, that's just as important as the romance.

  Theodora Goss

  Two, People, Romance

  Source: www.sfsignal.com

• I'm sure scientists would point to specific brain chemicals, but I think love is actually a kind of magic. It's what allows things to happen, people to be creative, the world to change. Great things come out of love - for other people, for art, for beauty.

  Theodora Goss

  Art, Love Is, Thinking

  Source: www.sfsignal.com