#memoir

I am often described to my irritation as a 'contrarian' and even had the title inflicted on me by the publisher of one of my early books. (At least on that occasion I lived up to the title by ridiculing the word in my introduction to the book's first chapter.) It is actually a pity that our culture doesn't have a good vernacular word for an oppositionist or even for someone who tries to do his own thinking: the word 'dissident' can't be self-conferred because it is really a title of honor that has to be won or earned, while terms like 'gadfly' or 'maverick' are somehow trivial and condescending as well as over-full of self-regard. And I've lost count of the number of memoirs by old comrades or ex-comrades that have titles like 'Against the Stream,' 'Against the Current,' 'Minority of One,' 'Breaking Ranks' and so forth—all of them lending point to Harold Rosenberg's withering remark about 'the herd of independent minds.' Even when I was quite young I disliked being called a 'rebel': it seemed to make the patronizing suggestion that 'questioning authority' was part of a 'phase' through which I would naturally go. On the contrary, I was a relatively well-behaved and well-mannered boy, and chose my battles with some deliberation rather than just thinking with my hormones. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#contrarianism #dissent #dissidents #free-thought #harold-rosenberg

I am forever engaged in a silent battle in my head over whether or not to lift the fork to my mouth, and when I talk myself into doing so, I taste only shame. I have an eating disorder. ↗

— Jena Morrow

#eating-disorders #memoir #self-help #battle

Read a lot, write a lot is the great commandment. ↗

— Stephen King

#instruction-book #memoir #on-writing #writing-craft

An intensely gripping narrative...expertly crafted and totally addictive...a must read! ↗

— Maggie Reese

#bipolar-disorder #blog #blogger #depression #insomnia

I have never experienced writers block and I've written every day since June 1972. But I have experienced the need to get up and walk around, eat ice cream, let ideas percolate, forget the story for a time, and then return to the page. Even the muse needs a vacation to rest up before she gives more of herself. ↗

— Jan Marquart

#write #write-to-heal #writers-block

A day came when I should have died, and after that nothing seemed very important. So I have stayed as I am, without regret, separated from the normal human condition. ↗

— Guy Sajer

#third-reich #world-war-ii #world-war-ii

For the first time I realized adults could back themselves into corners so remote that love, or its memory, could no longer reach them. ↗

— Kirby Wright

#memoir #molokai #age

I had read too many memoirs that were written after the writer or the director was past his or her prime. ↗

— Joe Eszterhas

#director #had #her #his #i

I put off writing the first Left Behind book for a year because I got invited to assist Billy Graham in his memoirs, and had we known what we were putting off for a year, we might not have put it off. ↗

— Jerry B. Jenkins

#because #behind #billy #billy graham #book

I will say, with memoir, you must be honest. You must be truthful. ↗

— Elie Wiesel

#i #memoir #must #say #truthful