Judy Blume Writing Quotations

I never thought about writing. I was married young, I was still in college, as we did then, and I had two babies before I was 25, and I loved them, and I loved taking care of them, but I was a little bit cuckoo, staying at home and not having a creative outlet.

What I remember when I started to write was how I couldn't wait to get up in the morning to get to my characters.

The best books come from someplace inside. You don't write because you want to, but because you have to.

When I started to write, it was the '70s, and throughout that decade, we didn't have any problems with book challenges or censorship.

When I'm writing a book, you can't think about your audience. You're going to be in big trouble if you think about it. You're got to write from deep inside.

I think people who write for kids, we have that ability to go back into our own lives.

The child from nine to 12 interests me very much. And so, those were the years that I like to write about, when I'm writing.

I was sick all the time, one exotic illness after another, which lasted throughout my twenties. My worst decade. But from the day the first book was accepted, I never got sick again. Writing changed my life.

I always had stories inside my head and one day I just decided to start writing them down. I didn't actually decide.

I use a computer, but before I begin each new book I keep a notebook. I write down everything that comes to mind during that period before I actually begin. It might take months or weeks. That notebook is my security blanket so that I never have to face a blank screen (or blank page). But I print out often and my best ideas usually come with a pencil in my hand.

When you ask, Did writing change my life? It totally changed my life. It gave me my life.

Nothing teaches you as much about writing dialogue as listening to it.

I love to talk with children. I try to visit schools but it's hard for me to travel when I'm trying to write. Some authors are able to do both.

The only thing that works with writing is that you care so passionately about it yourself, that you make someone else care passionately about it.

I wanted to write honest books for kids because I didn't have those when I was a kid.

I like to read fiction best and I like to write fiction, too.

I'm a more skilled writer now, but after 23 books it's harder to be fresh and that's really important to me. I don't want to write the same thing over and over again.

I don't believe in writer's block. There are good days when you're writing and less good days. I've learned that if it's not happening to walk away and return later. I doodle a lot and often get my best ideas with a pencil in my hand while I'm doodling. The problem is, sometimes I lose my doodles and that's bad!

I have to go with what comes naturally to me. Fantasy isn't my thing. I did enjoy the Oz books when I was growing up and certainly my grandson and I read Harry Potter together. You write what you can as well as you can.

The best books come from someplace deep inside.... Become emotionally involved. If you don't care about your characters, your readers won't either.

I kept a diary as a teenager but I never would have shared it with anyone. Still, I think it's very good practice to write things down.

I stop and think before I start a new book and ask myself do I really want to spend the next year or two or three with these characters because if I don't, then I shouldn't be writing about them.