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All Quotes by author - Jonathan Evison
" After 20 years of writing in basically a vacuum, I love being part of a community. I've vetted other writers' contracts for them and do publicity for free just because I like a book. Some people think of it as hubris or careerism, but I love to champion books. You can't use your whole sphere of influence just to help yourself. "
People
Community
Book
" As a result of manifest destiny, we gutted our resources. "
Destiny
Resources
Result
" For me, an ideal novel is a dialogue between writer and reader, both a collaborative experience and an intimate exchange of emotions and ideas. The reader just might be the most powerful tool in a writer's arsenal. "
Me
Experience
Ideas
" Homesteading is gone. "
Gone
" I discovered John Fante when I was 17 years old - strangely, not through Charles Bukowski, but through William Saroyan, who was his drinking buddy. "
Old
Through
Buddy
" I grew up in the Bay Area until 1976, then I pretty much went all the way through primary and high school on Bainbridge, though like anybody who grows up on an island, I ran the first chance I got. "
School
Island
High School
" I just need to believe that we're not in some form of stasis, that we can try to be whoever we want to be. We probably won't get there, but we might get a little bit closer, you know? "
Try
Want
You
" I love being a struggling artist; it makes me feel very alive. "
Being
Love
Alive
" I'm a DIY kinda guy. "
Kinda
Guy
" I'm not in the business of meddling with people's destinies - and yes, my characters are real people to me. They have histories and thoughts and yearnings and hurts and misgivings and pleasures that don't belong to me. "
People
Thoughts
Business
" I never wanted to be anything but a writer, and I never let go of it. "
Anything
Never
Go
" In writing, I've found, playing it safe and familiar is no way to energize anybody. "
Playing
Safe
Writing
" I really believe in challenging myself, pushing myself to new places. "
New Places
Believe
Myself
" I usually write in my underwear, with a space heater running full blast, and three dogs sleeping at me feet. "
Dogs
Three
Space
" I've been blessed with an optimistic disposition, I think. "
Been
Blessed
I Think
" I write as a matter of need - seven books and God knows how many short stories before anyone published me. "
Short
Me
God
" Limited points of view let the writer dispense - and the reader gather - information from various corners of the story. It all becomes a kind of dance, with the writer guiding the reader through the various twists and turns. The challenge is keeping readers in step, while still managing to surprise. "
Dance
Step
Story
" Maybe a theme that touches all of my work is people reinventing themselves. "
Maybe
Work
People
" Most everything that happens to me in any significant sense finds its way into my fiction. "
Any
Sense
Way
" My parents divorced after 25 years of marriage. "
Divorced
Marriage
Parents
" So often when we historicize material, we use this big wide-angle lens. "
Big
Lens
Material
" The jocks that used to stuff me into a locker when I was a punk rocker are my best buddies now. "
Now
Punk
Used
" There are holes in our lives that can never be filled - not really, not ever. "
Really
Ever
Holes
" There're so many great writers out there who aren't getting the exposure they deserve. "
Great
Deserve
Exposure
" Too many writers of fiction don't give the reader enough credit. "
Fiction
Credit
Too
" When I started caregiving, I was not on very firm ground. My first marriage had dissolved. I was working at an ice-cream stand in my thirties. I learned that when you don't have anything to give, that's when you really give, and then you get back so much more. "
Marriage
Back
Working
" You have to find hope. Hope is such a shape shifter. You tend to look in the rearview mirror for hope, but when it's gone, you have to look forward. You have to get in the van and keep driving on. "
Hope
Find
Driving
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