#d

I was a big and un-ironic fan of Dear Abby when I was a kid in Chicago. I think I sort of internalized her. So I have this inner Abby: cranky, proper, folksy yet scathing, with a beehive hairdo. But that's my issue. ↗

— George Saunders

#big #chicago #cranky #dear #fan

I didn't want kids to think that to be happy, they had to be famous or rich or live in the big city. ↗

— Dan Savage

#big #big city #city #famous #had

I was a straight arrow, a control freak. I didn't do drugs or drink, and this was the '70s. I didn't like the loss of control. Which isn't exactly right, because I didn't know what happened when you did drugs. ↗

— George Saunders

#because #control #control freak #did #drink

I was trained in seismic prospecting. We'd drill a deep hole and put dynamite in the bottom and blow it up remotely, which would give you a cross-sectional picture of the subsurface, which tells you where to drill. ↗

— George Saunders

#bottom #deep #drill #dynamite #give

I wasted a lot of years working on my writing and very grandly saying, 'And now... My Novel!,' which would soon be reduced to a short story, then to a paragraph. ↗

— George Saunders

#i #lot #novel #now #paragraph

When I'm explaining something to you, if I'm being long-winded, and twisty in a non-productive way, I could make you feel vaguely insulted. And you'd have a right to be. ↗

— George Saunders

#could #explaining #feel #i #insulted

In an open adoption agreement, you agree to a minimum number of visits - a floor, not a ceiling. It's enforceable. ↗

— Dan Savage

#agree #agreement #ceiling #enforceable #floor

I'm finding, as I get older, that I'm not much of a believer in redemption. I mean, I believe in redemption in real life - redemption does happen, and it's cool when it does - but I find myself getting leery of my desire for it in stories (especially my own). ↗

— George Saunders

#believer #cool #desire #does #especially

I've had the thought that a person's 'artistic vision' is really just the cumulative combination of whatever particular stances he has sincerely occupied during his creative life - even if some of those might appear contradictory. ↗

— George Saunders

#artistic #combination #contradictory #creative #creative life

If death is in the room, it's pretty interesting. But I would also say that I'm interested in getting myself to believe that it's going to happen to me. I'm interested in it, because if you're not, you're nuts. It's really de facto what we're here to find out about. ↗

— George Saunders

#also #because #believe #death #facto