Quotes that Get You Thinking

As I'd never got around to cancelling the newspapers before I went away, I came home to a large pile of them, waiting to be read. I love the weekend papers, so of course I couldn't just throw them in the recycling pile without at least scanning them and reading the most interesting bits. The first quote that appealed to me was from Amanda Lohrey, an Australian literary novelist, talking about why she needs to write full-time.

"You need a lot of time to waste: to dither and daydream and read books you didn't know you wanted to read and go for long walks. You might only have 15 productive hours a week but you don't know which hours they are going to be." This is the pleasure of full-time immersion in the act, isn't it? Not just the actual typing, but allowing the ideas and words to gather in whatever way they will, roll around in your head, jostle with each other, and finally break out onto the page. When you think about it like that, somehow jamming them in between hours of paid work, especially work where you are required to use the creative part of your brain a lot, suddenly shows itself as a crazy way to write. But that's where many of us are, so we learn to deal with it.

The other quote was from Deborra-Lee Furness (Hugh Jackman's wife) who said: "... as soon as you put someone up on a pedestal, you lower yourself. So what's next? Resentment." She was quoting someone else in the interview, behavioural expert John Demartini, but it's something to think about. She was referring to celebrities and the way our society puts them on pedestals, but it can apply to anything. That famous writer, the famous motivational speaker, even your doctor. You create an image in your mind almost of perfection where the person is concerned, and when they don't live up to it, or don't do things your way, they take a big tumble (in your mind, at least). Is this really where tall poppy syndrome comes from? Or is it some form of jealousy? More to ponder as I go off to count bricks.