Friday

Feb. 7, 1997

Winter

by Mary Oliver

FRIDAY 2/7

Today's Reading:"Winter" by Mary Oliver form NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, published by Beacon Press.

Today is the start of the Chinese New Year, 4695, the Year of the Ox.

In San Francisco the Chinese New Year Festival begins with more than two weeks of parades, pageants and street fairs.

It's the birthday of writer Laura Ingalls Wilder (LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS; LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) born near Pepin, Wisconsin, 1867.

It's the birthday of Scottish lexicographer and editor Sir James Murray (THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY) born in Denholm, Scotland, 1837.

Swedish physiologist Ulf Svante von Euler-Chelpin was born in Stockholm on this day in 1905. He won the 1970 Nobel Prize for his work on this chemistry of nerve impulses.

Novelist Sinclair Lewis (MAIN STREET)was born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota on this day in 1885.

Charles Dickens (OLIVER TWIST; DAVID COPPERFIELD; A TALE OF TWO CITIES; GREAT EXPECTATIONS) was born in Portsmouth, England on this day in 1812.

English statesman and writer Sir Thomas More was born in London on this day in 1477.

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
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  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
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  • “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
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  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
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  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
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