Survival is Triumph Enough
“Being a fiction writer is a good way to go crazy, it’s a good way to be a nervous wreck, it’s a good way to become a drunk. You continually pick at yourself, the little sores that you have. They scab over and you pick them open again. Other people not only let them scab over, they let them scar over. They leave it alone. Writers don’t do that. They can’t keep their fingers out of the sore. They’ve got to keep it bleeding. And it’s off that blood that they make their stuff.” -Harry Crews "You have to go to considerable trouble to live differently from the way the world wants you to live. That's what I've discovered about writing. The world doesn't want you to do a damn thing. If you wait till you got time to write a novel or time to write a story or time to read the hundred thousands of books you should have already...
There Is Nothing More
“Do I fear death? No, I am not afraid of being dead because there's nothing to be afraid of, I won't know it. I fear dying, of dying I feel a sense of waste about it and I fear a sordid death, where I am incapacitated or imbecilic at the end which isn't something to be afraid of, it's something to be terrified of.”"The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.""So far, I have decided to take whatever my disease can throw at me, and to stay combative even while taking the...
Cruel Summer
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." -John Lennon* * * "This is going to be the best year EVER," Olivier said, holding up his pinky finger."Hell yes," I said. "This is going to be OUR year." I wrapped my little finger around his and we sealed our pact. We had just returned from our turbulent holiday adventure in the U.S. and were only a couple of weeks into the new year.He patted me on the leg. "2010 is going to be awesome.""Fuckin' A right," I said.So it was decided, then. We had endured some stress last year. Nothing that we couldn't handle. Most of it was the usual shit that everyone else gets stressed about. Sure, at the end of the year, there was travel & holiday stress coupled with some family drama, but... no biggie. Next year would be better. It would be OUR year.Much like George Costanza, when he triumphantly declared, "This will be...
American Splendor
"I try and write the way things happen. I don't try and fulfill people's wishes." -Harvey Pekar"I've probably had my day in the sun. I think I've influenced a lot of comic book writers." -Harvey Pekar"Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff." -Harvey Pekar httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APpxQm7sH5k Harvey Pekar October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010...
The Middle-Class Farm Boy Who Cheated Death
"Like all artists I want to cheat death a little and contribute something to the next generation." -Dennis Hopper"I am just a middle-class farm boy from Dodge City and my grandparents were wheat farmers. I thought painting, acting, directing and photography was all part of being an artist. I have made my money that way. And I have had some fun. It's not been a bad life." -Dennis HopperMay 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010...