Quote ~ The Last Unicorn, Time

Always take advice from talking skulls.

You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that—then any time at all will be the right time for you.

Peter S. Beagle

Quote ~ On the Art of Writing, Novelists

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The orator can yet sway men, the poet ravish them, the dramatist fill their lungs with salutary laughter or purge their emotions by pity or terror, the historian ‘superinduces upon events the charm of order.’ The novelist—well, even the novelist has his uses . . .

Arthur Quiller-Couch

{Book Quote} The Last Unicorn

On a whim, slowly I reread The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, a chapter a day as a part of my morning routine. Every time I read it, something new pops out at me. This time it was this quote by the talking skull:

“You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that—then any time will be the right time for you.”

As someone who is overly fond of New Year’s Day, the first of the month, Mondays, and blank pages, I would do well to learn this myself.

(The quote isn’t in the movie, but can I post about the talking skull without including a clip? No. Here he is voiced by René Auberjonois.)

P is for Pie

"My life’s a shambles. I need pie." *

I’ve spent the majority of the last ten years working as a full-time writer without pay or promise of pay. Indeed, most of the feedback I receive regarding my work is of the negative sort. I have no medical/dental benefits, no 401K. There’s no home/office dichotomy. I can never "go home" from work. If I take a sick day, I’m still at work.

Don’t get me wrong, I *am* living my dream. But sometimes, I need pie.

Pie is very important, whether it’s literal pie or figurative pie. To me, pie is what’s needed to keep going when things get rough. It’s a break. It’s a recharge. It’s a little comfort when the week included writer’s block, an allergy attack, a rejection letter, and a broken toilet. Sometimes, sitting down and having a piece of pecan pie à la mode and coffee is the best option. And, heck, sometimes pie is going out for a run on a beautiful day, or spending the afternoon in a dark movie theater. Or picking up a  book or having a beer with friends.

When life’s shambles, don’t forget the pie.

* Between the above quote, "I like pizza. I LIKE IT!", "We’re gonna eat a dolphin! " and several others,  Multiplicity is probably my most quoted movie.

Nekkid Yeats Redux

I’m too tired to expound further on the past two days.  Perhaps I’ll rejoin the world tomorrow.  Or rather, later today.

In retrospect, this is the better Yeats poem:

A COAT

I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.

Yeats seemed to have a thing for needlepoint.

Like this:

Slippers. That’s why I’m a writer. No doubt about it.
— Robert Weinberg

Like this:

We’re writers. … We’re egomaniacs with inferiority complexes…
–Geoff Cooper