how to write the great american novel, abridged.

[hollyslowly]

In the interests of uncluttering my desktop, a collection of quotes that I have saved in a thousand various .rtf files.

Comments

[formanymiles.livejournal.com]

One night a co-worker says that I have the worst luck of anyone she's ever met (We arouse pity by cultivating the most repulsive wounds). A version of empathy, I suppose, but I don't really want to talk about it. If we got out drinking after work, if I end up spending the night with her, maybe I'll say more, as we talk afterward, as a way to explain something about myself, why I'm the way I am, why I'm in her bed and not Emily's. An affair is a room to disappear into for a few hours, another place to hide. But if asked directly I'll say he's just another drunk, that's what I've always heard, a drunk and a con man, he has nothing to do with me. I don't know you at all, she will say, a few months into our affair, but if you ever want to talk. . . and I'll smile a skull's smile and one by one the lights will go off inside me.

Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Nick Flynn.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

We arouse pity by cultivating the most repulsive wounds

Ugh ow close to the bone.

[formanymiles.livejournal.com]

I know, I read that whole book basically through my fingers.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Oh, books like that are injurious to my calm. I like that, even if you do end up wincing your way to the end.