#rite

At an early school, when I was about 5, they asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Everyone said silly things, and I said I wanted to be an actress. So that was what I wanted to be, but what I was, of course, was a writer. ↗

— Tanith Lee

#actress #asked #course #early #everyone

I love writers all across the board, but one who influenced me very directly at the beginning was Mary Renault. ↗

— Tanith Lee

#beginning #board #directly #i #i love

The other writer who had a very important early influence on me when I was about 17 was C.S. Lewis. ↗

— Tanith Lee

#early #had #i #important #influence

The Radiohead record, The Bends is my all-time favorite record on the planet. ↗

— Tommy Lee

#bends #favorite #planet #radiohead #record

Anybody who writes doesn't like to be misunderstood. ↗

— Norman MacCaig

#like #misunderstood #who #writes

I have a structured songwriting process. I start with the music and try to come up with musical ideas, then the melody, then the hook, and the lyrics come last. Some people start with the lyrics first because they know what they want to talk about and they just write a whole bunch of lyrical ideas, but for me the music tells me what to talk about. ↗

— John Legend

#because #bunch #come #first #hook

My first album, 'Get Lifted,' was a hip-hop soul album that had some of its roots in the church, as far as the sonic choices, in the way that I sing and write songs. I have always had that as part of my background and part of my influence when I am making music. ↗

— John Legend

#always #am #as far as #background #choices

I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them. ↗

— Tom Lehrer

#bush #figure #george #george bush #george w

Irving Berlin was the greatest songwriter of all time. I was in awe of him. But his music wasn't my music. My music was the blues. ↗

— Jerry Leiber

#berlin #blues #greatest #him #his

As a writer, the worst thing you can do is work in an environment of fear of rejection. ↗

— Carol Leifer

#fear #rejection #thing #work #worst