Alex Burns
@alexgraceburns
Alex Burns
"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
—Arthur C. Clarke
"There was an episode, one of my favorite moments in Star Trek, when Captain Kirk looks over the cosmos and says, 'Somewhere out there someone is saying the three most beautiful words in any language.' Of course, your heart sinks and you think it's going to be, 'I love you' or whatever. He says, 'Please help me.' What a philosophically fantastic id
... See more"It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story."
—Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
"My life amounts to no more than a single drop in a limitless ocean; yet, what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"
—David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, an
... See moreIt is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. Well all know that our time in this world is limited. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly mome
... See moreObviously you can pick books that fit your interests, but if you’re looking to read to be a better writer, setting goals to read books that will improve your range of knowledge, even if they aren’t as fun as Harry Potter or whoever, is vital. You might not love every second of The Magic Mountain or The Unconsoled , but you will have absorbed someth... See more
Blake Butler • Maximizing Time for Reading
Do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, or every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. Because it ’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.
Celine Nguyen • The Divine Discontent
from the radio producer Ira Glass, on feeling disappointed by your own work:
All of us who do creative work...get into it because we have good taste. But there’s a gap. For the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making...It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’... See more