And I usually use myself as a model, posing in front of a mirror as I dab the strokes on the canvas.
The lesson you have to learn as novelist is how to be collaborative, and how to say, "I don't get to dictate this. "
Maybe that's what we look for in the people we love, the spark of unhappiness we think we know how to extinguish.
Every minute we were together, I felt like I was wandering in the dark through a strange house, groping for a light switch. And then, whenever I found one and turned it on, the bulb was dead.
When things don't go well, it helps to think of yourself as a genius and the rest of the world as a bunch of idiots.
I was an English major in college, I went to a creative-writing program, and all my life, I really read and thought about fiction as a craft and an art form. I feel like I know a lot about it, and can trust my instincts.
They both seemed to understand that describing it was beyond their powers, the gratitude that spreads through your body when a burden gets lifted, and the sense of homecoming that follows, when you suddenly remember what it feels like to be yourself.
You are not a mess. You are a feely person in a messy world.
One of many joyful moments with BB King was him letting me play 'Lucille. '. . . The thrill will never be gone.
I believe that we have a responsibility to make culture available for all people, not only those who can afford to go to the movies.
The cat does more for the war effort than you do. He acts as a hot-water bottle and saves fuel and power.