Light-skinned-ed Girl

On Loneliness

"Loneliness is something you'll have plenty of without trying to induce it. You can count on it. As a matter of fact, you don't have to be neurotic to discover that the world can be a frightening place."

-William Stafford

"When something starts to feel like hurt . . ."

“What happens when people open their hearts?"...
"They get better.”

-Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

On How Story Happens, It's Happening Now

Stories seem so well constructed that it's natural for teachers to assume they were thought up in advance, but Gregor Samsa could have mated with another cockroach, and Humpty Dumpty could have been unscrambled by feeding him to a chicken.

--Keith Johnston, "Journey Without Maps"

                                                                  

On the Gift of Imperfection

"There is a crack in everything.  That's how the light gets in." -- Leonard Cohen (lyrics of "Anthem")

On Happiness

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier.  The way it actually works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are, then do what you really need to do, in order to have what you want."  - Margaret Young

On Success

"Success does not depend on how you feel." Barbara Sher

On Determining the Next Step

Two-toed Sloth
Originally uploaded by guppiecat.

"All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." -- Machiavelli

On originality

"Everybody is original, if they tell the truth, if they speak from their true self.  But it must be from their true self and not from the self they think they should be.  So remember these two thing: you are talented and you are original." - Brenda Ueland

On Being a Writer

“I didn’t want to be myself. I wanted to be a writer.” --Jamaica Kincaid

On Fame . . .

Do you want to be the statue or the bird?  -- Frances Weaver