Quotes by Jim Harrison
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Writers can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be.
Your kids inevitably want to move where they had their vacations when they were younger.
I can write anywhere.
I'm not rational enough to be a good journalist.
The old fun thing is when somebody typed up the first chapter of War and Peace. And then made a precis of the rest of it and sent it out and only one publisher recognized it.
I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.
I thought, frankly, that it would be more pleasant to write a memoir than it was.
Naturally we would prefer seven epiphanies a day and an earth not so apparently devoid of angels.
Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness. And they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy... or they become legend.
Because most writers have totally unrealistic concepts of how publishing works.
I do have trouble with titles.
The only advice I can give to aspiring writers is don't do it unless you're willing to give your whole life to it. Red wine and garlic also helps.
I enjoy about 1 out of 100 movies, it's about the same proportion to books published that I care to read.
I don't know what psychotherapy does. I have been seeing the same person for 26 years now.
The trajectory started when I was on the roof of our house looking out at a swamp when I was 19. I had written for several years, starting at about 15, but that day on the roof I took my vows and acknowledged my calling.
After a lifetime of world travel I've been fascinated that those in the third world don't have the same perception of reality that we do.
I rarely read or buy a book because of a review.
I don't see gender as the most significant fact of human existence.
Writing as a woman presents enormous problems but I have attempted it several times and haven't had many complaints.
The fact is, the media never gets off the interstate unless there's a major explosion.
I couldn't run a tight schedule, and if you're any good at teaching, you get sucked dry because you like your students and you're trying to help them, but you don't have any time left to write yourself.
I used to get criticized for putting food in novels.
I should add that I very much enjoy certain cities especially Paris, New York and Chicago.
I've never felt influenced by Ernest Hemingway though I suppose there is something inevitable there.
I see more genuine sociability between the races in Mississippi than I see in Michigan. No question.
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