Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Quote

 "You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write."

Saul Bellow

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess I didn't need any more evidence that I'm no Saul Bellow, but the stuff I get up in the middle of the night to write down because it's SO BRILLIANT that I MUST NOT FORGET IT is always, always, the stupidest thing I've ever seen come morning.

Sandra Scoppettone said...

Dear Nobody,
I think that's what he meant.

jerrygordon said...

I won't profess to know Bellow's intentions, but his quote seems to be a bit of a Rorschach test.

When I'm knee deep in a manuscript, puzzling over some intangible that is missing or somehow not quite right, I find that my subconscious kicks into overdrive. The answers often come in the middle of the night or in the shower, and they are almost always dead on.

That said, new ideas that feel revolutionary in the cloud of sleep often turn out to be more than a little wanting in daylight hours. Pieces often find a way into my writing, but full form concepts rarely make the cut.