No one among us suffers the radical appreciation for coffee that I do. It calls to me, but I have learned not to listen. Ron Carlson More Quotes by Ron Carlson More Quotes From Ron Carlson I don't live in books, but, boy, have books amplified my life. Ron Carlson boy live my-life life I was a good college kid, all-American and baseball-playing, living in the dorms with a million barbarians. I did not expect to be claimed by Fitzgerald hook, line, and sinker. 'This Side of Paradise' - that sweet, sophomoric pastiche of notes, scenes, poetry, and plays - I felt like he'd written the book just for me. Ron Carlson good me poetry sweet My parents were farmers' kids from South Dakota. My dad was an engineer. I wanted to be responsible and major in something pragmatic. Ron Carlson parents something farmers dad My first novel was called 'Betrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald,' about the difficulties of graduating from college, the longing and mourning you feel when all your promise seems to float away. Ron Carlson difficulties feel you college I'm a Midwesterner. Ron Carlson Writing a book is very personal. It's a very personal relationship. A book will start with something as simple as two men talking about work. That gets the fire going. Sustaining that fire is the hard work. It takes attention and empathy to hone the characters. Ron Carlson hard-work simple work relationship I have these habits. I'm not a crazy artist. Or am I? Ron Carlson habits am crazy artist If we're really writing, we are exploring the unnamed emotional facets of the human heart. Not all emotions, not all states of mind have been named. Nor are all the names we have been given always accurate. Ron Carlson emotions mind heart writing The literary story is a story that deals with the complicated human heart with an honest tolerance for the ambiguity in which we live. No good guys, no bad guys, just guys: that is, people bearing up in the crucible of their days and certainly not always - if ever - capable of articulating their condition. Ron Carlson live good heart people I'm not at all sure dialogue is meant to advance the story; I know that sometimes it is the story. Ron Carlson story know dialogue sometimes
