#mttbll – @hush-syrup on Tumblr

I feel the risk; I am almost holding my breath; one interruption—a knock at the door or a telephone call—could destroy either the whole piece or at least the nice sentence that was just then forming. This is because, as you write one sentence, you are at the same time forming the next, and even, more approximately, several more in your head, and at the same time holding the door open for more sentences or approximate ideas to come flowing in from that mysterious place that sentences and ideas come from. This is a very delicate state of mind. You try to maintain it for as long as you can, or need to. Then, you are relieved to have gotten through this stage of the work without losing or missing what you wanted to write down. You are relatively safe, once this stage is done, or rather the work you have done is relatively safe.

By Lydia Davis (via mttbll)

#lydia davis #writing #sentences #writers #lit #literature #entropy quotes #mttbll

hush-syrup reblogged

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I think I tend to argue with the source story as I write my way into and out of its tropes… and I’d show up in front of my laptop every writing day, cheerfully ready to pit myself against that story’s rules.

By Helen Oyeyemi (via mttbll)

Source: flavorwire.com

#Helen Oyeyemi #lit #literature #writing #story writing #fiction #entropy quotes #mttbll

hush-syrup reblogged

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Everybody has a hard job. All real work is hard. My work happened also to be undoable. Morning after morning for 50 years, I faced the next page defenseless and unprepared.

By Philip Roth (via mttbll)

Source: The New York Times

#lit #literature #philip roth #writing #writer #language #mttbll #entropy quotes

hush-syrup reblogged

mttbll

Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those—in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed. Suffer them if you can’t escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. Above all, try to avoid telling stories about the unjust treatment you received at their hands; avoid it no matter how receptive your audience may be. Tales of this sort extend the existence of your antagonists; most likely they are counting on your being talkative and relating your experience to others… What your foes do derives its significance or consequence from the way you react. Therefore, rush through or past them as though they were yellow and not red lights.

By Joseph Brodsky (via mttbll)

Source: brainpickings.org

#joseph brodsky #lit #literature #mttbll #entropy quotes #prose