Nell Freudenberger Quotations

You thought that you were the permanent part of your own experience, the net that held it all together - until you discovered that there were many selves, dissolving into one another so quickly over time that the buildings and the trees and even the pavement turned out to have more substance than you did.

I think that the practice of writing every day was what made me remember that writing doesn't have anything to do with publishing books. It can be totally separate and private - a comforting thought.

I'm not a big Woody Allen fan, but thought 'Husbands and Wives' was great.

It's usually easier for me to begin writing in a character's voice if that person is different from me in some significant way.

If somebody says your story is only published because you look nice in the photo, that maybe spurs you on to write.

Alice Munro is a particular kind of short story writer in that she writes long, character-driven short stories.

Research for fiction is a funny thing: you go looking for one piece of information, and find something altogether different.

I can't listen to music when I'm writing. I like music best in a car or on the train.

I like it when someone gives me a new book of poetry by a poet I haven't read.

I think, in general, it's better not to respond to reviews of your work.