I've found that my first drafts are not so special. But the more I work on them, the better they get. They are more unique and defensible.
George SaundersWhen something really bad is going on in a culture, the average guy doesn't see it. He can't. He's average and is surrounded by and immersed in the cant and discourse of the status quo.
George SaundersIt's on us to investigate ourselves for any lingering sense that we are 'giving' equality. We are not. It is already given. And not by us.
George SaundersWe all think we know what happens after death. But maybe it's going to be not only weird but also dorky and comic and inconsistent.
George SaundersA writer writes what interests him and what he can manage, and what he can make live, as Flannery O'Connor said. So my reaction to someone saying "You must!" or "You should!" or even "Hey, why don't you?" is basically to sort of shrug and politely walk off and do whatever I want to do. It's nobody else's business, really, and even if I happened to agree with one of those "musts" or "shoulds" what would I do about it, if my heart wasn't in it?
George Saunders