Once I get over maybe a hundred pages, I won't go back to page one, but I might go back to page fifty-five, or twenty, even. But then every once in a while I feel the need to go to page one again and start rewriting.
Joan DidionBut the fact of it was that I liked it out there, a ruin devoid of human vanities, clean of human illusions, an empty place reclaimed by the weather where a woman plays an organ to stop the wind's whining and an old man plays ball with a dog named Duke. I could tell you that I came back because I had promises to keep, but maybe it was because nobody asked me to stay.
Joan DidionShort stories demand a certain awareness of one's own intentions, a certain narrowing of the focus.
Joan DidionEverybody who undergoes a death and finds themselves grieving is obsessed with โ or maybe overly focused on โ the idea that they canโt display self-pity, they have to be strong. Actually there are a lot of reasons why you are going to feel sorry for yourself, but thatโs your first concern.
Joan Didion