Happy Birthday, Gayle Forman, born 5 June 1970.
Gayle Forman Quotes
- Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.
- Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it’s the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open. But my hand has been clenched into a fist for three years now; it’s frozen shut.
- Losing me will hurt; it will be the kind of pain that won’t feel real at first, and when it does, it will take her breath away.
- There’s a difference between losing something you knew you had and losing something you discovered you had. One is a disappointment. The other feels like losing a piece of yourself.
- I’m not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I’m not sure that I want to wake up.
Six bits and pieces of advice from Gayle Forman’s blog
- Own YOUR VOICE. Write in the voice that comes naturally to you, not the voice you wish came naturally to you. I know that many young writers want to be Raymond Carver-esque….The thing is, when you write with your real voice, the work will be your most authentic, and that work is the most readable. Trust me.
- Most people don’t publish books so young. And there’s a reason for it. Writing is one of those things, that unlike basketball or ballet, you only get better at with age! Part of that is because you need to practice it, and part of it is because the more life experience you amass, the more it filters into—and deepens—your work.
- Take all writers’ advice, from Stephen King on down, with a huge grain of salt. What works for one person, no matter how successful, might not work for you.
- A lot of people worry about writers’ block. The way out of writers’ block, if you ask me, is to write. Maybe the book or story or poem or whatever you’re working on isn’t coming. Whatever. Leave it for a while. Work on something else. I think the juices need to flow for the juices to flow.
- Court inspiration. What that means is, if you know that staring at the river gives you ideas, go stare at the river. If you dream up wild stories, for heaven’s sake, keep a pen and paper or a recorder by your bed. Not every idea you get is inspired but some nuggets will be golden and other ideas will be clues on a scavenger hunt leading you to….well, you never know unless you follow up.
- Worry about writing, not getting published.
Gayle Forman is an American author of young-adult fiction. She is best known for her novel If I Stay, which was a New York Times best-seller. It was made into a film of the same name.
Image Source / Credit: Laina Karavani
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