I think by writing about a place with great specificity, you manage to make it universal. Bonnie Jo Campbell More Quotes by Bonnie Jo Campbell More Quotes From Bonnie Jo Campbell I do different work, teaching and running around visiting universities and bookstores, and that prevents me from writing. But it's nice to be wanted as a writer. Bonnie Jo Campbell niceteachingrunning My donkeys are Jack and Don Quixote. They're very smart, very cautious. Much of what people consider stubbornness in donkeys is actually cautiousness. Bonnie Jo Campbell cautiousnesssmartpeople Where I live you're not supposed to shoot a firearm within a quarter mile of a dwelling. Bonnie Jo Campbell quartersmilesdwelling I have a second-degree black belt in Okinawan kobudo weapons training. Bonnie Jo Campbell trainingdegreesblack After a year, it was great to get out of L.A. and return to Hyde Park. Since my grandparents lived in Hyde Park, I had been coming there since I was a tyke. Bonnie Jo Campbell hydegrandparentyears If you have someone falling out of the boat, you'd have to drag the boat up the river and film the same scene ten times, every time, dragging the boat exactly where it was up the river. Bonnie Jo Campbell filmriversfall There were a lot of beautiful, thin people out there driving nice cars. It was a whole different experience being in L.A. Bonnie Jo Campbell different-experiencesnicebeautiful The truth is I tried to write for years and I wasn't very good. Bonnie Jo Campbell truth-iswritingyears I loved writing for the school newspaper. I liked to report and interview people, but I really liked to write columns, funny columns. Bonnie Jo Campbell writingpeopleschool Being five-foot-ten at fourteen years old was a little bit scary. Bonnie Jo Campbell scaryfeetyears I thought that you had to learn to write by yourself and if you couldn't do it, then you were out of luck. Bonnie Jo Campbell luckifswriting I realized that I was writing about folks with lots of skills, especially fix-it skills and survival skills, who were nonetheless not doing well in the new-millennium America. Bonnie Jo Campbell skillswritingamerica Drugs and drinking affect every family I know, country and city, middle-class and poor. Bonnie Jo Campbell drinkingclasscountry I can't personally drink or fight too much nowadays because I have to be perky in the morning in order to write. Bonnie Jo Campbell fightingwritingmorning I'm not much interested in my own self when I write. I'm interested in what I observe out there, what's going on around me. Bonnie Jo Campbell my-ownselfwriting The best and easiest lesson for me was to learn that writing is mostly hard work. Bonnie Jo Campbell lessonshard-workwriting Maybe the hardest lesson is the one I have to learn over and over again, that each story is its own animal, that every story I write is going to come only with difficulty. Bonnie Jo Campbell storieswritinganimal You can't beat a good sonnet, and you can write a sonnet without being married to the damned thing. Bonnie Jo Campbell marriedbeatswriting I like living near my family, and near the people I understand the best. The landscape of Michigan speaks to me, and the humility and humor of the people here makes sense. It just feels right to live here, in a place where I don't dare put on airs. Bonnie Jo Campbell speakhumilitypeople Eighty percent of all novels are bought by women, or so I've heard. Bonnie Jo Campbell percentnovelheard
