Maria Semple
Maria Semple
Maria Keogh Semple is an American novelist and screenwriter. She is the author of This One Is Mineand Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Her television credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan and Ellen...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth17 June 1964
CountryUnited States of America
believed books naive reading worth
In my high-minded and naive way, I believed the only books worth reading were the classics.
call concept escaping fluffy foreign means rides understood
I never understood the concept of a fluffy summer read. For me, summer reading means beaches, long train rides and layovers in foreign airports. All of which call for escaping into really long books.
good learned moving plot taught tv
In a lot of ways, TV writing taught me how to be a good storyteller. I learned about dialogue, scenes, moving the plot forward.
book writing moments
When I'm writing a book, I draw from my immediate experience, and my books are therefore almost a snapshot of where I am at that moment in my life.
camaraderie
I love the camaraderie of a writers' room.
muse not-sure
Unfortunately Seattle is my muse, for the better or worse of Seattle - I'm not sure.
writing thinking good-things
I think one of the good things about writing novels is that you always start from scratch.
sweet problem problem-solving
When I'm creatively solving problems, I'm in my sweet spot, and nothing can take me out of that joyful present.
mean writing past
When I'm sitting at my computer writing, I really have this fiendish smile on my face. I am not thinking about the past or the future or how it's going to be received. I feel that I'm very lucky that way; I don't carry that particular anxiety around with me. I'm not anxiety-free by any means, but that happens to be one that I've been spared.
running couple writing
I drop my kid off at school and then race home, and its a very limited time. I can only do really serious writing for a couple of hours. And then I always go on a walk, I do a one-to-two-hour walk; I dont go running or hard hiking.
real book writing
I think because I try to keep things as real as I can, or I try to start from a place of reality, I almost don't have the imagination to write a book that's not set where I am.
thinking numbers should
I can't tell you the number of times I've been in the middle of a perfunctory conversation, and someone will say, 'Tell us what you really think.' Or 'Maybe you should switch to decaf.
world scared shame
I want find a part of myself that I feel shame about, or that I feel really scared of exposing to the world.
jobs writing thinking
I think thats the most important job of a novelist - to bring authority to their writing.