Wednesday

Sep. 9, 1998

Woman Living Alone

by Kelly Cherry

WEDNESDAY 9/9

Today's Reading: "Woman Living Alone" by Kelly Cherry from GOD'S LOUD HAND, published by Louisiana State University Press (1993).

It's the birthday of poet Sonia Sanchez in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1934.

Jazz drummer Elvin Jones, the younger brother of pianist Hank Jones and trumpeter Thad Jones, was born in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1927.

In 1910 writer Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas began living together, remaining lifelong companions and opening a Paris salon where writers and artists gathered including Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, and Matisse.

English novelist James Hilton (GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS; LOST HORIZON), who coined the term Shangri-La, was born in Lancashire, in 1900.

Songwriter Howard Dietz, who came up with MGM's trademark roaring lion, was born in New York City in 1896.

Former Kansas governor Alf Landon was born in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, in 1887.

William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy who became King of England after beating Harold at the Battle of Hastings, died in 1087 in Rouen while conducting a war in France, which began when the French king made fun of him for being fat.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

«

»

  • “Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories' shadows—and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
  • “I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
  • “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
  • “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
  • “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
  • “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
  • “Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it's spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
  • “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.” —Iris Murdoch
  • “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
  • “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
Current Faves - Learn more about poets featured frequently on the show