“Maybe that's true about all larger than life people, or it may be that no one really ever knows them at all - we just have experiences near them and claim them as our own.” PeopleKnowingKnowExperiences Book:The Chronology of Water Source: The Chronology of Water
“The WRITER of memoir gets incoming weirdness in very odd ways. I was recently talking to a memoir writer whose work just went meteoric - but some of the comments and communications and gestures she gets in the wake of that success are stunningly and atrociously over-personal, as if suddenly people feel like they know her and her life intimately, and have permission to transgress all her "life" boundaries.” PeopleIfsKnowsWayFeelsTalkingCommunicationBoundariesMemoirOddCommentGesturesPermissionWeirdness Author:Lidia Yuknavitch
“To be honest, we live in an exciting time where form is concerned. My sincerest hope is that more people will notice this and agree to play and invent - the only way to not succumb to the complacency and market-driven schlock of the present tense is to continually interrogate it from the inside out.” PeopleWayPlayFormHonestConcernedExcitingAgreeDrivenBeing HonestTenseComplacencyPresent Tense Author:Lidia Yuknavitch
“Too, some of my teachers helped me to navigate those books, showed me the maps and paths and secret decoder rings - people like Linda Kintz and Forest Pyle and Mary Wood and Diana Abu Jaber. They didn't treat me like a messy writer girl in combat boots who had infiltrated the smart people room. They treated me like I deserved to be there, potty mouth and all, they helped make a space for me to rage and ride my own intellect. That's why I'm saying their names out loud.” PeopleBookGirlNamesMy OwnSpaceRoomsSecretPathTeacherSmartMouthsTreatsWoodsIntellectRageRingsForestsTreatedLoudMapsCombatBootsMaryMessyNavigateSmart PeopleDianaPottyCombat BootsPotty Mouth Author:Lidia Yuknavitch
“When a female character sets herself on fire in an effort to interrupt her culture's violent abuse of disenfranchised people, or physically tortures and punishes her guardian rapist, or picks up a gun and fights back in ways that make her not pretty, or aggressively rejects her role as the object of desire, or even when she waddles off into the woods to squat and have a baby without the safety and expertise of hospitals and doctors, these are the kinds of violences and stories we can learn from.” PeopleWayKindCharacterStoriesDesireCultureFightingEffortRolesFireViolenceObjectsBabyPicksGunFemaleDoctorsAbuseSafetyWoodsViolentTortureRejectsHospitalsGuardianExpertiseFemale CharactersSquatNot PrettyDisenfranchisedObjects Of Desire Author:Lidia Yuknavitch
“You see it is important to understand how damaged people don't always know how to say yes, or to choose the big thing, even when it is right in front of them. It's a shame we carry. The shame of wanting something good. The shame of feeling something good. The shame of not believing we deserve to stand in the same room in the same way as all those we admire. Big red As on our chests.” PeopleKnowsWayBelieveImportantFeelingsBigsRoomsKnow HowFrontsDeserveRedShameAdmireChestsBig Things Book:The Chronology of Water: A Memoir Source: The Chronology of Water: A Memoir
“I don't have any problem understanding why people flunk out of college or quit their jobs or cheat on each other or break the law or spray-paint walls. A little bit outside of things is where some people feel each other. We do it to replace the frame of family. We do it to erase and remake our origins in their own images. To say, I too was here.” PeopleFeelsLittlesProblemJobsLawBitsUnderstandingBreakCollegeWallLittle BitPaintQuittingCheatEraseRemakesSprayUnderstanding WhySpray Paint Author:Lidia Yuknavitch
“Aspiration gets stuck in some people. It's difficult to think yes. Or up. When all you feel is fight or run.” PeopleThinkingFeelsRunningFightingDifficultStuckAspiration Book:The Chronology of Water: A Memoir Source: The Chronology of Water: A Memoir
“People - I mean couples - don't like to talk much about fighting. It's not attractive. No one likes to admit it or describe it or lay claim to it. We want our coupledoms to look... sanitized and pretty and worthy of admiration. And anger blasts are ugly. But, I think that is a crock. There is a kind of fighting that isn't ugly. There is a way for anger to come our as an energy you let loose and away. The trick is to give it a form, and not a human target. The trick is to transform rage.” PeopleThinkingWayWantGivingHumansLooksKindMeanFormFightingEnergyCoupleClaimsLaysUglyWorthyRageTricksLikesAttractiveTargetAdmirationBlast Author:Lidia Yuknavitch
