Literary Birthday – 6 September – Vendela Vida

Happy Birthday, Vendela Vida, born on 6 September 1971.

Vendela Vida Quotes

1. I definitely sculpt all the extra words out of a sentence. I think every sentence I write starts with about 4 or 5 more words than end up in it. (The Rumpus)
2. People pretend things didn’t happen. Or so what, they happened, it’s okay. Well, it’s never okay. It’s always ruined.
3. I overwrite at first. Whenever I start a book, I think, This is going to be my long book, and by the time I take out all the extra words, I think, Well, the next one is definitely going to be my big book. But I think I’m finally at peace with the fact that I like writing shorter novels. Those are the kind of novels that I love reading. (The Rumpus)
4. If you spend a day writing and it goes really well, there’s no better feeling, but I think it’s a lot easier to edit pieces because you can check that kind of task off. (The Rumpus)
5. When it comes to books…They’re like lifelong friends to me; I need to know they’re there, even if I don’t check in with them on a regular basis.
6. With every book you write you limit yourself a little bit because you can’t do the same thing again. I’ve written two novels about people in their 20s—with this one I wanted to write about a woman looking back on her life. (The Rumpus)
7. You panic and you rage, then this calm settles over you, and you remake yourself.
8. I’ve always felt like the thing that attracts someone to a relationship in the first place often becomes the very same thing that drives them crazy at the end. (The Rumpus)
9. There is this sense of time when you’re travelling, that the time is not how you know it, but how a country knows it.
10. I never like to plot out my books ahead of time. I want to surprise myself—that’s what keeps it fun. (The Rumpus)

Vendela Vida is an American novelist, journalist, and editor. She is the author of nine books, including We Run the Tides, Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty, and Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name. She is a writing teacher and a co-founder and editor of The Believer magazine. She is also co-founder and board member of 826 Valencia, a nonprofit organization that teaches creative writing to children and teens. She is married to writer, Dave Eggers.

Source for image: Bigcharles at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vendela_Vida_Portrait.png

by Amanda Patterson
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