Literary Birthday – 2 May – Esther Freud

Happy Birthday, Esther Freud, born 2 May 1963.

Esther Freud Quotes

1. Writing fiction, which is what I love to do, is like losing yourself in a secret world.
2. I write every morning and if for some reason I am not able to get to my desk, I feel restless and uneasy. I used to be more impatient, always dreaming of the day when I’d finish a book, but as my life has become busier I value the slow unfolding of a novel that might take several years to write.
3. Everything is a little bit autobiographical, that’s always for me what makes it interesting. I know some writers would be more defensive, but what draws me to a subject needs to come from a personal place.
4. My father showed me that you could make incredible things through sheer hard work. You could make something beautiful by working very, very hard. As a child I never saw him unless he was painting, he was always working, his clothes covered in paint. My mother showed me you didn’t need money, you didn’t need a home, you could have a good life just with sheer perseverance and courage.
5. Writing is a good thing for a mother. It focuses your time and you can do both.
6. Language is everything when you are writing, it’s the key. It’s the language, it’s the rhythm. I read it aloud to myself so I can believe it. I cut it to make it clean, to have energy. That’s what I try and teach my students, to read it to see what you don’t need, and cut it to bring the sentence alive. I like to make every sentence alive.

Read: Esther Freud’s Seven Rules For Writing

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