This is what I miss, Cordelia: not something thatโs gone, but something that will never happen. Two old women giggling over their tea.
Margaret AtwoodI would like to believe this is a story Iโm telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If itโs a story Iโm telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
Margaret AtwoodBooks are frozen voices, in the same way that musical scores are frozen music. The score is a way of transmitting the music to someone who can play it, releasing it into the air where it can once more be heard. And the black alphabet marks on the page represent words that were once spoken, if only in the writer's head. They lie there inert until a reader comes along and transforms the letters into living sounds. The reader is the musician of the book: each reader may read the same text, just as each violinist plays the same piece, but each interpretation is different.
Margaret AtwoodIf you want to be a writer, you should go into the largest library you can find and stand there contemplating the books that have been written. Then you should ask yourself, 'Do I really have anything to add?' If you have the arrogance or the humility to say yes, you will know you have the vocation.
Margaret Atwood