janet mock diary

Aug. 2, 2012 at 10:31am with 20 notes

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Perhaps everybody has a garden of Eden, I don’t know; but they have scarcely seen their garden before they see the flaming sword. Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or: it takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence; and the world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare.

—

One of my favorite pieces of writing. So poignant and empowering. I find myself revisiting this quote each time I doubt myself when I’m writing Fish Food, writing about my life, writing about the things that have happened to me and revisiting the things I made happen.

From the mouth and mind and soul of James Baldwin, who would’ve celebrated his 88th birthday today, in Giovanni’s Room. Thank you, Son of Baldwin, for reminding me of Mr. Baldwin’s b-day.

May. 28, 2012 at 2:03pm with 2 notes

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Today Publisher’s Weekly announced that my memoir Fish Food will be published by Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books in early 2014.

I’m so elated that I’m doing Rihanna’s “vagina” dance from “Birthday Cake” on SNL.

Oct. 5, 2011 at 1:53pm with 20 notes

leonard pitts jr.writers writing quotes on writing

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Desire is not enough. You need to have a need, and if you have that need then chances are you’re already writing. That’s why I’m always suspicious when people come up to me and say, ‘Mr. Pitts I’m an aspiring writer.’ There is no such thing as aspiring. You’re either a writer or you are not.

— Leonard Pitts, Jr., on writing in a speech during the National Writers’ Workshop

Oct. 1, 2011 at 5:43pm with 10 notes

ladygunn janet mock writers

Here my image lies, on the Contributors page of Ladygunn magazine’s Fall issue, in which I write about my first crush who helped me find the love of my life.

You can buy a digital or hardcopy of Ladygunn’s latest issue online.

Mar. 29, 2011 at 8:43pm with 15 notes

tina fey the new yorker writing writers quotes

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You have to let people see what you wrote. It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated.

— Tina Fey, on not being “precious” about your writing, to The New Yorker

Dec. 25, 2010 at 12:41pm

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My boyfriend Aaron published my first blog Musings on Love. It’s now my first book, a story about a girl who becomes fully herself after learning to love.

What a Christmas surprise!

Dec. 7, 2010 at 10:33am

So You Want to Write a Novel writers novels viral videos

“I’ve already written the first page. It’s really awesome. I plan to finish by the end of the week.”

-Clueless aspiring writer in “So You Want to Write a Novel”

Nov. 23, 2010 at 2:03pm with 2 notes

writing writers zadie smith Zadie Smith Quotes

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The real writer is who they were between 9 and 15.

— Zadie Smith on the solidified identity of a writer (via Charlie Rose interview in 2005)

Nov. 10, 2010 at 3:07pm

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Theme ensures that no matter how unique your personal experience, how unusual your story its essence will find resonance in others. By having an identifiable human dilemma at the heart of your story, you can concentrate on what makes you unique and on specific details in the writing. You can select what is surprising and unexpected in your experience without fear of losing the bond of commonality with a reader.

— Tristine Rainer, on the importance of theme in Your Life as Story