Sunday

Mar. 9, 1997

Early Sunday Morning

by John Stone

SUNDAY 3/9

Today's Reading:"Early Sunday Morning" by John Stone from RENAMING THE STREETS, published by Louisiana State University Press.

The Barbie Doll was unveiled on this day in 1959 at a Toy Fair in New York City.

It's the birthday of novelist Keri Hulme (THE BONE PEOPLE), born in Christchurch, New Zealand, 1947.

Jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman was born on this day in Fort Worth, Texas, 1930.

It's the birthday of Frank Morrison, Mickey Spillane (VENGEANCE IS MINE; KISS ME, DEADLY; THE ERECTION SET), born in Brooklyn, New York, 1918.

It's the birthday of American composer Samuel Barber ("Adagio for Strings," and the opera VANESSA), born on this day in West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1910.

Biographer Peter Quennell was born in London on this day in 1905.

It's the birthday of Bloomsbury Group writer Vita Sackville-West, born in Sevenoaks, Kent, England, 1892.

Railroad developer Leland Stanford, who with his wife founded Stanford University in 1885, was born on this day in Watervliet, New York, 1824.

Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine on this day in 1796.

It's the birthday of explorer Amerigo Vespucci, for whom the New World was named; born on this day in Florence, Italy, 1451.

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

 

«

»

  • “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
Current Faves - Learn more about poets featured frequently on the show