“I will go to campus alone dressed in antique silk slips and beat-up cowboy boots and gypsy beads, and I will study poetry. I will sit on the edge of the fountain in the plaza and write.” WritingPoetryBerkeley Book:Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories Source: Girl Goddess #9: Nine Stories
“I can arrange words on a page but I can't seem to organize books on a shelf. Over the years, My Secret has shelved thousands and thousands, held each one in his hands. He thinks they might have seeped into him, through his skin, as much as the books he's read. At night and on his days off we spend hours talking about writing. He reads three or four books at a time. When he's not working at the bookstore he goes to other bookstores around the city and browses until closing time. Holding more volumes in his hands, filling himself up with words.” WritingBooksWordsBook LoversFrancesca Lia BlockBook SellersThe Thorn Necklace Book:The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process Source: The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process
“I wrote poetry from the time I could write. That was the only way I could begin to express who I was but the poems didn't make sense to my teachers. They didn't rhyme. They were about the wind sounds, the planets' motions, never about who I was or how I felt. I didn't think I felt anything. I was this mind more than a body or a heart. My mind photographing the stars, hearing the wind.” ThinkingWayWritingMindHeartBodyStarsFeltSoundTeacherPlanetsWindHearingMake SenseRhyme Author:Francesca Lia Block
“I pounded through the houses, staggering down the hallways, falling down the steps. It was a hot streaky dawn full of insecticides, exhaust, flowers that could make you sick or fall in love. My battered Impala was still parked there on the side of the road and I wanted to lie down on the shredded seats and sleep and sleep. But I thought of the bones; I could hear them singing. They needed me to write their song.” WritingStillsWantedLyingSongFallHouseSidesSleepStepsFlowerNeededSingingSickHotFalling In LoveBonesDawnSeatsFalling DownStaggeringHallwaysBatteredInsecticides Author:Francesca Lia Block
“L.A. kills people.' Jacaranda said. 'You're lucky you're leaving. You'll be able to write.' She looked paler, going through another depression, smoking in bed in her lilac room. The walls were the color of her veins. She was getting too thin, even for the modeling. . .Jacaranda died last winter when the flowering trees were bare. You couldn't even tell which ones once cried the purple blossoms she named herself after.” PeopleWritingSaidAbleLastsRoomsTreeColorWallLuckyBedDiedLeavingWinterSmokingCriedVeinsPurpleModelingFloweringLucky YouLilacFlowering Trees Author:Francesca Lia Block
“I think depression creates in me an urgent need to write, but I also believe that daily stress, and even the positive stress of intense happiness, can compel me to express myself through the written word.” ThinkingNeedsWritingBelieveWrittenStressIntenseUrgentWritten Word Author:Francesca Lia Block
“Write with abandon and no constraints for first draft. Cut brutally and save in separate files on second draft. Add conflict; don't be afraid to make your characters suffer. Read what you love. Write what you love. Love.” WritingFirstsCharacterSufferingCuttingConflictAddAbandonFilesConstraintsWhat You Love Author:Francesca Lia Block
“Writing is literally transformative. When we read, we are changed. When we write, we are changed. It's neurological. To me, this is a kind of magic.” WritingKindMagicChanged Author:Francesca Lia Block
“I am constantly thinking ahead to what I want to write about in the future, and when I'm done with one project, I give myself a little time and then start the next one.” ThinkingWantGivingWritingLittlesDoneNextProjectsLittle TimeThe Next OneConstantly ThinkingThinking Ahead Author:Francesca Lia Block
“Writing is very cathartic for me. As a teacher, I hear many students say that writing can be painful and exhausting. It can be, but ultimately I believe that if you push through, the process is healing and exhilarating.” IfsWritingBelieveI BelieveProcessHealingTeacherStudentsPainfulExhaustingExhilaratingCathartic Author:Francesca Lia Block
