“I’ve had a lot of people come up to me…and they want to know: ‘how do you write and when do you write?‘”

“Everything that you’ve ever heard that I’ve ever written is written between the hours of 12 o’clock midnight and 6 o’clock in the morning. I have a reason for doing that because in those hours what’s happening is that you’re not so involved in the collective consciousness around you. Because we’re always being constantly bombarded by other minds and energy persona around us. And during those hours, 90% of the world around you is asleep. So you don’t have quite the same pressure going on.”

“The trick is once you begin a song, once you begin the first line, don’t leave the room until you’ve written the last line. And it’s the same with anything. When you’re painting or writing a book, finish the paragraph or finish the chapter. If you’re painting, finish that section. But the whole trick is perseverance.”

Transcribed by Jeff Fenske from:
Shawn Phillips- Through my camera lensX3
An Evening with Shawn Phillips, Backstage Pass, 1989:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsygJ1ZCafc]