Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Anne Rice

This is the last Writer’s Quote Wednesday of October, the month which I focused on horror writers.  I started out the month with Stephen King and considered ending it with him as well.  King is after all as quotable as he is prolific.  Since I am giving away a copy of Stephen King’s latest book, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams on October 31st as part of my Facebook promotion (entries accepted through 5 p.m. EST on October 31st) it would’ve been logical to revisit with King.  Yet if Stephen King is to be considered the king of horror, no month devoted to horror writers would be complete without paying homage to the queen of horror, Anne Rice.

This quote from Anne Rice begs the questions: Why are you silent? What is making you suffer? Why have you not written your story?

Each of us with unwritten stories must answer those questions for ourselves.  For me, my silence always stemmed from a crippling lack of confidence in my writing skills.  It has taken me decades to get over that sense of not measuring up as a writer.  In spite of being a print journalism major who received accolades from her writing professors, I was convinced that my professors were wrong.   At the time, I truly believed because I was editor of my college’s newspaper my professors expected me to be a talented writer.  It never registered that I was chosen to be editor because I was a talented writer.  Crazy, I know.

Most writers have an internal editor who sits on their shoulder attacking their words as they write.  My problem was I carried her everywhere I went instead of just leaving her on my writing desk where she belonged.  I’d take her out with me and when someone complimented my writing she’d cackle “What do they know about writing?  That essay was a piece of crap and someday someone will realize that you can’t write.  Then what?”

In order to write, I had to put a sock in her mouth and toss her in the ocean.  She currently resides in a sealed box off the New England coast at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

What about you?  What has stopped you from writing the story inside you?

About Anne Rice

Rice is an American author most widely known for her popular novel series, The Vampire Chronicles, which revolves around the fictional character Lestat de Lioncourt.  Lestat is played by actor, Tom Cruise in the film adaptation of  Interview with the Vampire, Rice’s debut gothic horror and vampire novel which launched the highly successful series.

Born:  Howard Allen Frances O’Brien, October 4, 1941, New Orleans, Louisiana (changed name to Anne as a child)

Spouse: Stan Rice (1961 – 2002; until his death)

Children: Michele Rice (1966 – 1972)

Christopher Rice (born 1978)

Genres: Gothic fiction, horror, Erotica, Christian fiction, Fantasy.

For additional information on Rice visit her Wikipedia page and website.  Anne Rice maintains an active social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Image courtesy of Victor Habbick at FreeDigitalPhotos.net and edited with PicMonkey.
Image of Anne Rice released into the public domain by the author.

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Thanks to Colleen over at Silver Threading for facilitating this weekly community event.