#memoir

I had failed to make a gift of myself to God. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#religion #religion

Suicide is a form of murder— premeditated murder. It isn’t something you do the first time you think of doing it. It takes some getting used to. And you need the means, the opportunity, the motive. A successful suicide demands good organization and a cool head, both of which are usually incompatible with the suicidal state of mind. It’s important to cultivate detachment. One way to do this is to practice imagining yourself dead, or in the process of dying. If there’s a window, you must imagine your body falling out the window. If there’s a knife, you must imagine the knife piercing your skin. If there’s a train coming, you must imagine your torso flattened under its wheels. These exercises are necessary to achieving the proper distance. The debate was wearing me out. Once you've posed that question, it won't go away. I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won't. Anything I thought or did was immediately drawn into the debate. Made a stupid remark—why not kill myself? Missed the bus—better put an end to it all. Even the good got in there. I liked that movie—maybe I shouldn’t kill myself. In reality, it was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself, that dragged me into the suicide debate and made every window, kitchen implement, and subway station a rehearsal for tragedy. ↗

— Susanna Kaysen

#memoir #mental-illness #imagination

I am forever engaged in a silent battle in my head over whether or not to lift the fork to my mouth, and when I talk myself into doing so, I taste only shame. I have an eating disorder. ↗

— Jena Morrow

#eating-disorders #memoir #self-help #battle

Oh I'm sure you're right," Auntie said. "Probably she's just as you say. But she looks to me like a very clever girl, and adaptable; you can see that from the shape of her ears. ↗

— Arthur Golden

#fiction #geisha #japan #memoirs #japan

Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains. ↗

— Jeffrey Rasley

#expeditions #himalayas #memoir #mountaineering #mountains

People want biography. People want memoir. They want you to tell them that the story you're telling them is true. The thing I'm telling you is true, but it did not always happen to me. ↗

— Dorothy Allison

#truth #biography

Read a lot, write a lot is the great commandment. ↗

— Stephen King

#instruction-book #memoir #on-writing #writing-craft

An intensely gripping narrative...expertly crafted and totally addictive...a must read! ↗

— Maggie Reese

#bipolar-disorder #blog #blogger #depression #insomnia

I have never experienced writers block and I've written every day since June 1972. But I have experienced the need to get up and walk around, eat ice cream, let ideas percolate, forget the story for a time, and then return to the page. Even the muse needs a vacation to rest up before she gives more of herself. ↗

— Jan Marquart

#write #write-to-heal #writers-block

A day came when I should have died, and after that nothing seemed very important. So I have stayed as I am, without regret, separated from the normal human condition. ↗

— Guy Sajer

#third-reich #world-war-ii #world-war-ii