Literary Birthday – 16 January – Rebecca Stead

Happy Birthday, Rebecca Stead, born 16 January 1968.

Quotes

1. Some people will tell you that real writers don’t use parentheticals (which is nonsense). The most important thing to know about writing is that there are no rules.
2. Reading books made me think about writing. (The writer Saul Bellow once said that a writer is a reader moved to emulation. That’s me.)
3. Writing a book takes me a long time. There are ALWAYS times when it feels too hard, too unimportant, too lonely. My process seems to be: take a few steps in the dark, fall, lie there, eventually get up, take a few more steps. Slowly, the landscape of the story becomes easier to see, almost knowable. There is a feeling of recognition that creeps in – scenes and notes are coalescing into . . . something. (via)
4. The writing process is not just putting down one page after another-it’s a lot of writing and then rewriting, restructuring the story, changing the way things come together. (via)
5. I think if you can take something out and it doesn’t change the book, it doesn’t need to be there. (via)

Rebecca Stead is an American writer of fiction for children and teens. She won the Newbery Medal for her novel When You Reach Me.

Source for quotes

Source for photo Rebecca Stead/Credit Faye Bender

by Amanda Patterson

Are you interested in more authors’ birthdays? Please click here: Literary Birthday Calendar