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The first draft of a book is the most uncertain-where you need guts, the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better.

Bernard Malamud

I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Afterthought Flower Language
What suffering has taught me is the uselessness of suffering.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Suffering Taught Uselessness
How can we be strangers if we both believe in God?
BERNARD MALAMUD

Believe Both God Stranger
A man had to learn, it was his nature.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Learning Men Nature
If you ever forget you are a Jew a goy will remind you.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Few Forget Jokes Remind
First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about. Revision is working with that knowledge to enlarge and enhance an idea, to re-form it….
BERNARD MALAMUD

Book Firsts Ideas
First drafts are for learning what your story is about.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Draft Firsts Learn Stories
If your train’s on the wrong track every station you come to is the wrong station.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Stations Track Train
Prufrock had measured out his life with measuring spoons; Dubin, in books resurrecting the lives of others.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Book Inspire Life Resurrecting
Overnight business could go down enough to hurt; yet as a rule it slowly recovered-sometimes it seemed to take forever-went up, not high enough to be really up, only not down.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Down Forever Hurt Obstacles Overnight
The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Ideas Moving Writing
Those who write about life, reflect about life. you see in others who you are.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Who You Are Writing
Ithink Isaid’All menare Jews excepttheydon’t know it.’I doubt I expected anyone to take the statement literally. But I think it’s an understandable statement and a metaphoric way of indicating how history, sooner or later, treats all men.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Doubt Men Metaphoric Statement Thinking
Completed, most lives were alike in stages of living-joys, celebrations, crises, illusions, losses, sorrows.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Illusion Joy Life Loss
The past exudes legend: one can’t make pure clay of time’s mud.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Clay Experience Past
Of course it would cost something, but he was an expert in cutting corners; and when there were no more corners left he would make circles rounder.
BERNARD MALAMUD

Circles Cutting Experts

The first draft of a book is the most uncertain-where you need guts, the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better.

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The first draft of a book is the most uncertain-where you need guts, the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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