In Her Own Words: Toni Morrison on Writing, Editing, and Teaching
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In Her Own Words: Toni Morrison on Writing, Editing, and Teaching
Author Toni Morrison shares a lesson from her father:
“...one day, alone in the kitchen with my father, I let drop a few whines about the job. I gave him details, examples of what troubled me, yet although he listened intently, I saw no sympathy in his eyes. No “Oh, you poor little thing.”
Perhaps he understood that what I wanted was a solution to th... See more
“...one day, alone in the kitchen with my father, I let drop a few whines about the job. I gave him details, examples of what troubled me, yet although he listened intently, I saw no sympathy in his eyes. No “Oh, you poor little thing.”
Perhaps he understood that what I wanted was a solution to th... See more
James Clear • 3-2-1: On Building Habits That Last and the Link Between Success and Failure | James Clear
Isaac Feldman added
Did you know as a child you wanted to be a writer?
No. I wanted to be a reader. I thought everything that needed to be written had already been written or would be. I only wrote the first book because I thought it wasn’t there, and I wanted to read it when I got through. I am a pretty good reader. I love it. It is what I do, really. So, if I can re... See more
Farnam Street • Toni Morrison — Good, but never simple
Isaac Feldman added
I tell my students to liberate a certain part of their mind that, because they are good, humble people they may have likely suppressed, and that's the part that wants to be known, that wants to be famous or rich or whatever. I say that part is not entirely separate from the part of you that wants to be a great writer. Which is not separate from the... See more
Jane Ratcliffe • Craft Advice from George Saunders
Tara McMullin and added
Learning to write comes from reading, both the work of published writers and of our peers, and from using one’s powers of insight and creativity to analyze what one reads and figure out why it works when it does and what is missing when it doesn’t. This is where knowledge is gained, and it’s slow and frustrating, nebulous, diffuse, much less direct
... See moreJo Ann Beard • Festival Days
Anna B added
She may agree with the poet Mary Oliver that “creative work needs solitude. It needs concentration. . . . It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching,” or with Gertrude Stein, who warned, “It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.”
Julie Phillips • The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem
sari and added
sari and added
I’m often asked if there is something I think writers ought to do, and recently in an interview I heard myself say: “Several things. Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.”
Maria Popova • Susan Sontag on Storytelling, What It Means to Be a Good Human Being, and Her Advice to Writers
Rishita Chaudhary added
susan sontag