I know exactly how that is. To love somebody who doesn't deserve it. Augusten Burroughs More Quotes by Augusten Burroughs More Quotes From Augusten Burroughs As a child, I was never drawn toward depraved or extreme situations; I really wanted a normal little childhood. Unfortunately, that's just not what happened. Augusten Burroughs childhood racist children I just look at her and she creeps me out. She looks like she would eat a baby. Not that she's fat. She just looks hungry in some dangerous way that can't be explained. She's always so nice and friendly. Exactly the disposition of a baby killer. Augusten Burroughs nice friendly baby So that's what I'm here to become. And suddenly, this word fills me with a brand of sadness I haven't felt since childhood. The kind of sadness you feel at the end of summer. When the fireflies are gone, the ponds have dried up and the plants are wilted, weary from being so green. Augusten Burroughs firefly sadness summer I love to both give and receive very old books. Augusten Burroughs giving-and-receiving giving book your mind is like an unsafe neighborhood; don't go there alone. Augusten Burroughs unsafe neighborhood mind Saying just the right thing after a considerable, awkward pause is far less effective than saying the wrong thing with perfect timing. I'm telling you. Augusten Burroughs timing awkward perfect And I tend to listen to NPR when I'm not writing. Augusten Burroughs npr writing I sit there and think how it isn't fair that I can't drink at all, even a little. I realize I have crammed an entire lifetime of moderate drinking into a decade of hard-core drinking and that is why. I blew my wad. Augusten Burroughs drinking littles thinking And I hope she does not live in a dark world. Because even the most terrible loss doesn't have to make you darker; it can make you deeper. Augusten Burroughs dark doe loss When you say, "I need more confidence," what you're really saying is, "I need those people over there to approve of me." That is the desire to control other people and what they think. The first person who figures out how to do this owns the world. Augusten Burroughs desire people thinking I don't sit down at nine in the morning and begin writing and then take a break for lunch and stop at four. I have no structure like that. I am at my computer constantly, more or less attached to it. I live on-line and hate being off-line and don't care how unhealthy it is. Augusten Burroughs hate writing morning What I think of blogs is just this: Some are beautifully written and many are not. But even blogs that aren't necessarily "well" written are great for the person writing them. Augusten Burroughs wells writing thinking I don't really think of my blog as a real blog. It's a lame blog. It's more like my when-the-mood-strikes update, or smoke signal. Augusten Burroughs lame real thinking I suppose home is, for me, more of a state of mind. It's really more of about being where I want to be with people I care about. Augusten Burroughs mind home people I feel like they are two different things, and when I write books, they're just books. If they can be movies that's okay. But I would write a novel that couldn't be a film. Augusten Burroughs writing two book A lot of being a writer doesn't have anything to do with writing. It's ironic - I have to squeeze the books in, even though that's what it's all about. Augusten Burroughs ironic writing book There's a lot about being "A Writer" that has nothing to do with writing. That's one thing I've discovered. You've got to meet with the sales force, and you've got to have all these luncheons, and be gracious, and you've got to give a lot of presentations and you've got to give a lot of speeches, and you've got to be on tour. Augusten Burroughs speech writing giving New York City is a place where you can lock yourself up in your little studio apartment, and not go outside at all, and not feel in the slightest guilty about it. Augusten Burroughs locks cities new-york I don't read memoirs. But if you write a memoir, I would think you'd want people to know, "O.K., look, I've taken some liberties here." It's just a matter of being open with your readers. Augusten Burroughs taken writing thinking I thought, I can't do advertising any more, so I was downloading all these PDF applications from community colleges. And I thought, I'll become a paramedic. I'll get a two-year associate degree, if I can get in. Augusten Burroughs college two years