“The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography”, by Sidney Poitier

Pg. 127

When you’re addressing power, don’t expect it to crumble willingly. If you’re going to say, “Hey now, look you guys, please look at what you did and look at yourselves and punish yourselves and at least try to square this thing, right?” — well, you’ll make even slower progress at that than you would expect. I mean, even the most modest expectations are going to be unfulfilled…

There are also people who say, “Hey, after thirty years of affirmative action, they’ve got it made. Black people — it’s their own fault if they can’t make it today.”

Yeah, well, of course they say that. And they say it not just about black people. They say it in every country. We did something for you people, whoever “you” are. And we think that’s quite enough now.

That’s the gist of it: we’ve done something, and we think it’s enough. It may not be perfect, but it damn sure comes close to being okay. Now let us hear you applaud that for a little while. And thank us. And you can take that hat off your head when you come in here thanking us.

That’s the way it is. But let’s not get stuck there. We have miles to go before we sleep. We have lots to do, and some things just aren’t going to get done, you know?

“You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing”, by John Scalzi

Pg. 187

The most important thing the move taught me was simply this: There is always another way. What is required is the will to confront change from without and roll with it so it becomes change from within… There is always another way. Remember that when your own challenges and changes show up and try to knock you back on your ass. Maybe they will knock you on your ass, but it’s up to you how long you stay sprawled out.

Thoughts:

Well worth reading. Several funny moments where I actually laughed out loud. Contains useful, practical advice about writing, especially for those who strive to make a real living off of it and have no qualms about doing uninspired work.

“Beyond the Writers’ Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction”, by Carol Bly

Pg. xxii

Writers must do the hard psychological work of recognizing that some things are not “just the way life is, I guess” but actually evil — whereas other things are neither “just the way life is, I guess” nor evil, but remarkably beautiful or remarkably just — worth praising… A writer has to do the hard psychological work of living with terrific mood swings… That’s logical enough, since the people who don’t experience terrific mood swings are people who figure everything’s more or less just the way it is… Writers do the hard psychological work of forming their opinions as resolutely as they can, while knowing at the same time that they may be totally mistaken.

Thoughts:

The first 3 chapters and chapter 6 of this book were wonderful. The rest seemed superfluous and a solid 5 chapters out of 12 focus on how to teach creative writing, which didn’t seem at all useful for people who are writers and not teachers.