I haven't had writer's block. I think it's because my process inv... by Jennifer Egan

I haven't had writer's block. I think it's because my process involves writing very badly.

Jennifer Egan

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Categorized in : Thinking Writing Block

Rebecca was an academic star. Her new book was on the phenomenon of word casings, a term she'd invented for words that no longer had meaning outside quotation marks. English was full of these empty words--"friend" and "real" and "story" and "change"--words that had been shucked of their meanings and reduced to husks. Some, like "identity" and "search" and "cloud," had clearly been drained of life by their Web usage. With others, the reasons were more complex; how had "American" become an ironic term? How had "democracy" come to be used in an arch, mocking way?

stars real book

I guess it's always romantic when two people fall in love.... Eve... by Jennifer Egan

I guess it's always romantic when two people fall in love.... Even if it turns out not to be real.

falling-in-love real two

Nineteen eighty is almost here, thank God. the hippies are getting old, they blew their brains on acid and now they're begging on street corners all over San Francisco. Their hair is tangled and their bare feet are thick and gray as shoes. We're sick of them.

shoes hippie hair

Real computers scared me; if you can find Them, then They can fin... by Jennifer Egan

Real computers scared me; if you can find Them, then They can find you.

scared computer real

He looks tired, like someone walked on his skin and left footprin... by Jennifer Egan

He looks tired, like someone walked on his skin and left footprints.

tired skins looks

What he needed was to find fifty more people like him, who had stopped being themselves without realizing it.

realizing fifty people

reach isn’t describable in terms of cause and effect anymore: it’... by Jennifer Egan

reach isn’t describable in terms of cause and effect anymore: it’s simultaneous.

simultaneous cause-and-effect causes

Rich children are always blond, Jocelyn goes. It has to do with v... by Jennifer Egan

Rich children are always blond, Jocelyn goes. It has to do with vitamins.

vitamins rich children

And the question is, which one is really "you. by Jennifer Egan

And the question is, which one is really "you.

Stu walked Bennie over to Chris in the chair and parted his hair to reveal some tan little creatures the size of poppy seeds moving around on his scalp. Bennie felt himself grow faint.'Lice' the barber whispered.'They get it at school'. 'But he goes to private school' Bernie had blurted.'In Crandale,New York!

new-york school moving

Kathy was a Republican, one of those people who used the unforgivable phrase "meant to be"--usually when describing her own good fortune or the disasters that had befallen other people.

republican phrases people

When does a fake Mohawk become a real Mohawk? Who decides? How do... by Jennifer Egan

When does a fake Mohawk become a real Mohawk? Who decides? How do you know if it's happened?

Now that Scotty has entered the realm of myth, everyone wants to own him. And maybe they should. Doesn't a myth belong to everyone?

scotty should want

There's a fine line between thinking about somebody and thinking about not thinking about somebody, but I have the patience and the self-control to walk that line for hours - days, if I have to.

lines self thinking

"See," Sasha muttered, eyeing the sun. 'It's mine." by Jennifer Egan

"See," Sasha muttered, eyeing the sun. 'It's mine."

some mornings... I sit at the kitchen table shaking salt into the hairs on my arm, and a feeling shoves up in me: it's finished. Everything went past without me.

hair morning past

He remembered his mentor, Lou Kline, telling him in the nineties that rock and roll had peaked at Monterey Pop. They'd been in Lou's house in LA with its waterfalls, the pretty girls Lou always had, his car collection out front, and Bennie had looked into his idol's famous face and thought, You're finished. Nostalgia was the end - everyone knew that.

rocks girl idols

Even the financial disclosure statements that political bloggers were required to post hadn't stemmed the suspicion that people's opinions weren't really their own. "Who's paying you?" was a retort that might follow any bout of enthusiasm, along with laughter - who would let themselves be bought?

laughter political people

It was the hat. He looked sweet in the hat. How could a man in a fuzzy blue hat have used human bones to pave his roads?

Everyone we've lost, we'll find. Or they'll find us. by Jennifer Egan

Everyone we've lost, we'll find. Or they'll find us.