Tuesday

Sep. 17, 1996

A Love Song, First Version, 1915

by William Carlos Williams

TUESDAY 9/17

Today's Reading:"A Love Song, First Version, 1915" by Wiliam Carlos Williams from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, published by New Directions.

The Jackson County Apple Festival begins today in Jackson County, Ohio.

It's the United Nations International Day of Peace and opening day of the General Assembly in New York City.

It's the birthday today of Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, Jeff MacNelly, born in New York City in 1947.

The first long-playing record was demonstrated today in New York by RCA-Victor, 1931.

Country and western singer Hank Williams ("Your Cheatin' Heart") was born on this day in Mount Olive, Alabama, 1923. He died of heart failure at the age of 29.

The National Football League was formed on this day in 1920 in Canton, Ohio.

Choreographer and director of England's Royal Ballet, Sir Frederick Ashton, was born on this day in Guayaquil, Ecquador, 1904.

It's the birthday of the first homegrown American composer to write Impressionist music, Charles Griffes, born in Elmira, New York, in 1884.

It's the birthday of poet and physician William Carlos Williams, born in Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1883. He wrote, "I don't play golf, am not a joiner. I vote Democratic, read as much as my eyes will stand, and work at my trade day in and day out. When I can find nothing better to do, I write."

Today is the anniversary of the Civil War's bloodiest battle, the Battle of Antietam, which took place in Maryland in 1862.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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  • “Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories' shadows—and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
  • “I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
  • “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
  • “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
  • “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
  • “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
  • “Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it's spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
  • “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.” —Iris Murdoch
  • “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
  • “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
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