"By that I took her to mean that one should compose as if the usual constraints—of fashion, commerce, self-censorship, public and, perhaps especially, intellectual opinion—did not operate."
Or...
"Write... as if you are alive, both because the alternative is cramped and stupid, and because you don't have any other choice."
January 8, 2013
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12 comments:
Write ... sitting in an uncomfortable chair. That way your prose will be concise, precise and to the point. And you won't waste any time goofing off.
Hitchens' idea is one of the greatest intellectual toys I've ever heard.
PS Did your mother love you?
Begs the question: le petite or le grande?
The greatest part of being a writer in print is that you go on and on after your death influencing the next generations of unborn readers.
Will Shakespeare is a good example of a talented writer read and heard by a few thousand during his life, but read and heard by hundreds of millions since 1616.
So write it down and publish it while you still can!
"Some men are born posthumously" -- Nietzsche, The Antichrist
So how long does it take for a goldfish to die in stomach acid? Lambaste him in alcohol first?
Watch the stakes get higher when you throw the kids in the mix. Demand a sequel...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBvwueGobMk.
Maxims are forever.
I've been thinking of myself as mentally ill for a number of years, now, and I have to admit it's getting better, getting better all the time.
A writer should be true to himself, at least a writer of fiction should be. Everyone has their own unique voice. They would do better to use that than to try to pose as something they aren't. No one but F. Scott Fitzgerald could have written The Great Gatsby. No one but Dickens could have written Great Expectations. Probably better to have a part time job to support you, though, so you won't starve, because your own voice may not be popular enough to sustain you in your own lifetime. (Didn't Trollope work at the post office?)
Maxims are forever.
Too topical. Playboys are timeless.
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