The Good Word - Series Three

I have to be sitting at my desk at nine. I don't just run there at nine o'clock — I have to be there, ready at nine  . . .  I have to have had a bath, I have to have particular clothes on... 

– Writer Shonagh Koea on her writing rituals, in episode one

Buggered if I know what a bloody celebrity is. I hate the word, I don't know what it is. 

– Paul Holmes discusses his autobiography Holmes, in episode one

... look at how short these chapters are! One paragraph, two paragraph chapters. I found I could put the book down right in the middle of a paragraph, because I didn't care! 

– Bill Hastings makes clear he is no fan of Bret Easton Ellis novel Imperial Bedrooms, in episode three

There's a lot of people writing books for children who want to get a message over, and I think that's a very bad formula. I think you should have fun. 

– Author Betty Gilderdale discusses her book The Little Yellow Digger, in episode four

...it was the right book at the right time . . . it was a veiled but powerful appeal to the general public, to notice and to value a unique natural inheritence that was in many cases, in danger of disappearing.  

– Presenter Finlay Mcdonald on JT Salmon's The Native Trees Of New Zealand, near the end of episode eight

I find my brain is linked quite directly up to my hand via pencil. I think the computer invites you to actually edit as you go . . . which for me, stops the flow of the material. 

– Writer Carl Nixon on handwriting his first drafts with a pencil, in episode 9

He's just an ordinary guy trying to be. It ought not to be even remotely interesting, but the fact of the matter is that over 12 or 15 hundred pages, it's absolutely compelling!

– John Campbell raves about the Frank Bascombe book trilogy, written by Richard Ford, in episode two

I'm tired of middle-class angst, you know, I really am . . . every second novel I read is another one about middle-class angst in America. 

– Gordon McLauchlan reviews Freedom A Novel, by Jonathan Franzen, early in episode five

Writing is a really lonely thing to do. 

– Niuean artist and writer John Pule, in episode six

I think there's higher repetition in the recipes and that is a little disappointing, but it also is the story of the Pacific, you know. Obviously there's 1000 ways with coconuts, and that's fantastic! 

– Carol Hirschfeld reviews Robert Oliver's cookbook Me'a Kai: The Food and Flavours of the South Pacific, in episode seven

Legend has it that in 1924, Auckland Harbour became the watery grave of some copies of a self-published book by the poet R.A.K. Mason. 

– Finlay Macdonald on poetry collection The Beggar, in episode 10's Under the Covers segment

I sent it to them and said "this is the best cover I've done yet." Which I think it was at that time. I was really pleased with it.

– Designer Keely O'Shannessy discusses her book cover for Alison Wong novel As the Earth Turns Silver, in episode 11

I used to write about twice as much as what was needed and I'd spend a long time chopping chopping chopping to get it back to the required length. So I tend to be more efficient with it these days. 

– Architecture writer Julia Gatley on how her process has changed, in episode 12

It's the worst book ever published . .  I thought it was an embarrassment of poverties.

– Steve Braunias reviews A Visit From The Goon Squad, by American writer Jennifer Egan, in episode 13

The idea of inspiration...I don't really believe in it. 

– Writer Pat White, in episode 14

I wouldn't be able to work in a writing space without a mirror. I find that it's really important to be able to look at facial expressions and the way that they work. Obviously I'm my own sort of artist's dummy in that respect . . . just trying to figure out a fresh way to be able to describe someone's smile or a smirk.

– Craig Cliff on his writing process, in episode 15