Beginnings could happen more than once, or in different ways. Rachel Joyce More Quotes by Rachel Joyce More Quotes From Rachel Joyce There was no escaping what he had realized as he fought for warmth in the night. With or without him,the moon and the wind would go on, rising and falling. The land would keep stretching ahead until it hit the sea. People would keep dying. It made no difference if Harold walked, or trembled, or stayed at home. Rachel Joyce moon home fall But it never ceases to amaze me how difficult the things that are supposed to be instinctive really are. Rachel Joyce cease supposed-to-be difficult The least planned part of the journey, however, was the journey itself. Rachel Joyce journey He understood that in walking to atone for the mistakes he had made, it was also his journey to accept the strangeness of others. Rachel Joyce accepting journey mistake you could be ordinary and attempt something extraordinary, without being able to explain it in a logical way. Rachel Joyce able ordinary way 'Perfect' is about a set-up that looks perfect from the outside - beautiful country house, beautiful wife and mother, everything where it should be - and the deep fissures that, in fact, lie beneath that. 'Perfect' was partly a response to the shock of my first book, 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry,' being a success. Rachel Joyce wife mother success beautiful I think of myself as a very ordinary person. I like writing about the juxtaposition between people: the beauty of them at times and then the banal, everyday context in which we find ourselves. Rachel Joyce myself think beauty people I went to see Dad in hospital after he had gone through one particularly grueling operation. I walked into the room where he was recovering, and he was sitting up in a chair, wearing his shirt and tie. That was after eight hours of surgery. I found that so moving. Rachel Joyce hospital dad sitting moving I went through a stage of writing my cramped hand in tiny books. My two sisters and I did have our Bronte period. My mum is from Yorkshire, and we would go up to the Moors. It tapped into our romantic visions of ourselves. Rachel Joyce go stage writing romantic Before I gave birth to Hope, I had a miscarriage. The pain was so enormous, I had to write myself out of it. I kept a diary and did not feel entirely complete until Hope was born. Rachel Joyce feel myself pain hope Actors go inside the heads of other people and are not afraid of the complicated places you can find yourself. Rachel Joyce yourself you complicated people On television, it's all just shiny, successful people, and so I feel somebody has to wave a flag for the ordinary people who are not quite sure that they are getting it right. Rachel Joyce flag feel people television I think lots of ideas are sometimes in our heads without us quite, you know, knowing it. Rachel Joyce think you sometimes ideas I think I'm somebody who takes praise with a very big - probably too big - pinch of salt. Rachel Joyce big think salt praise For me, writing is such an escape, and I felt very lucky to have this to run away to. Rachel Joyce escape me lucky writing I'm drawn to people who find themselves on the outside of things. I'm moved by that in real life. Rachel Joyce find real life people The story of Harold Fry and his unlikely pilgrimage began as an afternoon play for radio. For many years, I have been writing plays and adapting novels for 'Woman's Hour' and the 'Classic' series. So this was originally a three-hander play, broadcast one sunny afternoon on BBC Radio 4. Rachel Joyce woman story play writing I have written stories since I was a child. Rachel Joyce since child written stories I am not expecting anyone to feel sorry for me, but when friends ask how it feels to be a debut novelist who has also been long listed for the Man Booker prize, I have to admit that my response has confused me. I am so overwhelmed, so delighted, so honoured and so surprised, I have come out in a violent cold. Rachel Joyce i-am me man sorry My father had spent years fighting cancer of the head and neck. He had numerous operations, and he was reduced and reduced and reduced. By the end, he had a growth so big under his eye that it hurt to look at him. Rachel Joyce look growth hurt father