“В джоба си държах винаги две книги, една за четене, една за писане.”
“In mythology, the transformative acts of people who seek self-knowledge by pursuing an epic adventure always seem too activate from some sort of dying to the world. Following this origination formula, I shall enter the unground labyrinth to confront my malevolent self, and wage a battle seeking to annihilate the demonic core of my being. We can only destroy those demons that we take personal ownership of and responsibility for creating. Can I use writing as a sorcerers tool to descend into the crooked lanes of my spiritual labyrinth to confront the warlock of an egotistical self? Can I use writing as an intentional mechanism to attempt undergoing a spiritual purification?”
“Conversely, bad writers often write in order to forward a cause or enlarge other people’s understanding of a contemporary social issue. Any attempt to write fiction in order to make the world a better, fairer place is almost certain to fail.”
“Truly successful writers blend the personal and the profound to enlighten and entertain readers while simultaneously banking something for posterity. Remuneration is a wonderful afterthought.”
“Essay writing is an act of rebellion against walking through life as an empty intellectual shell and as an emotional vacuum. Essayists attempt to bridge the gap between meaningful self-exploration and raising conscious awareness of the larger world that we occupy. Essayist need to understand, they seek to broker compromises with the past, and meld truths out of broken shards of their history.”
“Some notable people turned to writing in order to examine their life, assign meaning to their experiences, and by doing so shared with other people a beautiful rendering of what it means to be human. Can I temper the blows of life by recognizing loose snippets of life as chapters in an unfurling story? Should I take into consideration that suffering births all meaningful things in life? Alternatively, is the ability to experience and communicate joy what makes human life wonderful? What connective thread ties me to the broadcloth of other people’s stories? Do other people share stitches of raveled threads of loneliness and despair? Do other people know a secret verse to living joylessly and splendidly that eludes me? Do other people share my most profound ache to love?”
“Writing requires great skill, painstaking patience, and he ability to perceive and express observations in a unique manner.”
“Why is it that we understand that playing the cello will require work but we relegate writing to the magic of inspiration?”
“There s a difference between control and responsibility. Aesthetically and morally, I take full responsibility for what I write. If I didn t, I wouldn t feel free to let the material control itself to the extent I do. I d have ti manage it consciously and continuously, making everything happen as I planned it to happen. But I never wanted that kind of control. By going where I have to go, being willing to guess that there is such a place without knowing clearly how I am to get there, trusting my story to take me there, I know I ve gone farther than I could ever have gone if I d fully known my goal and the way to it before I set out. I left room for luck and chance to come and aid me, room for my narrow plans and ideas to grow and include what I didn t know when I set out.”
“If you have writer’s block, write about having writer’s block, and you will no longer have it.”
“Stare at the blank screen for at least an hour until it bleeds. It will bleed.”
“Who knows how things happen when one is on a quest or writing a book? It is as if one searches and searches and then, if one can move past the ego s demands and is lucky, sometimes a space opens where books seem to fall open in one s lap and things and people appear, as if magically, to help. Some call it synchronicity or being in the flow; I find it to be a blessed, though often short-lived, state of grace for which I am deeply grateful.”
“Writing books hurts like no other kind of writing.”
“Writing a book is like injecting anabolic steroids: it if doesn t kill you, it ll make you stronger and hairier.”
“Write every sentence as if it s your last.”
“Si la magia existe, habita en la escritura.”
“Escribir es un gimnasio para el alma.”