I heard this quote on Selected Shorts the other day. It’s from a talk by Grace Paley:
“I wrote short stories because I wrote short stories right? Because that’s what I did, and it became a way of thinking, it’s a way of thinking about the world, for me to write those stories. So, it was after I was writing these stories or after I had been writing these stories that I began to understand what stories were about. I didn’t seem to know what they were really about while I was writing my first book or even my second, but I understood more and more what the story meant to people. I don’t mean my stories, I mean every single story, I mean the story you want to tell about yourself, the story that your friend wants to tell, the story about the life of your people, the story about how others are living, and the story that the child tells, which is the very first story that’s told , that the child comes home after school and says “Ma, I want to tell you something.” And the mother either listens or doesn’t listen, and probably the child’s fate is decided then and there.”
Moral(s) of the story:
1. Grace Paley is the best.
2. We all need to be listened to. And if no one is listening to you, well then WRITE YOUR SHIT DOWN!