Literary Birthday – 1 June – Pat Schneider

Pat Schneider was born on 1 June 1934 and died on 10 August 2020.

Pat Schneider Quotes

1. To grow in craft is to increase the breadth of what I can do, but art is the depth, the passion, the desire, the courage to be myself and myself alone.
2. Whether your purpose for writing is artistic expression, communication with friends and family, the healing of the inner life, or achieving public recognition for your art – the foundation is the same: the claiming of yourself as an artist/writer and the strengthening of your writing voice through practice, study, and helpful response from other writers.
3. When we neglect the artist in ourselves, there is a kind of mourning that goes on under the surface of our busy lives.
4. If I tell you my character has grey hair, you will not see her. If I tell you she has a tiny scar at the upper left corner of her lip from which protrudes one grey whisker—you will make up the rest of her face with absolute clarity. If I tell you my character is waiting in a car, you won’t be ‘caught,’ but if I tell you he pushes his fingers down in the crack of the car seat where the ancient leather has pulled away from the seat frame, and pulls up a small coin purse with a faded note in it—you will be mine.
5. Writing as an art form belongs to all people, regardless of economic class or educational level. . . . A writer is someone who writes.

Pat Schneider was an American writer, poet, and writing teacher. She was the founder/director of Amherst Writers & Artists and editor of Amherst Writers & Artists Press, which has published forty-two books of poetry and the national literary journal, Peregrine. She was the author of 10 books of poetry and non-fiction. She was well known for Writing Alone and With Others. Her last book, How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice, was released from Oxford University Press in April 2013.

Source for image (Deekatherine, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) and quotes

by Amanda Patterson

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