Life & Wisdom Quote by Michael Connelly

Connelly punctures the glamor myth of directing with the kind of deadpan practicality you expect from a crime novelist who makes a living turning procedure into suspense. The first clause, "In a daydream sort of way", is a preemptive disarm: he grants the fantasy its rightful place (it is, in fact, "pretty cool") while labeling it as safely imaginary. That framing matters because it keeps aspiration from turning into affectation. He is not posturing as an artist who could do it all; he is admitting the desire and then showing his workmanlike respect for a different craft.

The subtext is about creative control and the seduction of authorship. Novelists already "direct" - they cast faces, block scenes, control pacing - but they do it with absolute authority and zero union rules. Connelly draws a clean line between solitary power and collaborative reality. "I have been on movie and TV sets and know it is hard work" functions like an alibi: he is inoculating himself against the lazy writer stereotype by acknowledging the labor economy of production, the long hours, the logistical grind, the politics.

"I like directing it in my mind. It is easier" lands as both a joke and a manifesto. It quietly defends the novel as a medium where budget doesn't veto imagination and where the director's cut is the first draft. Contextually, it's also a savvy author-in-Hollywood statement: grateful for adaptations, clear-eyed about the machinery, and protective of the one place he can still call every shot.