Quote of the Day, 7/20/06

I made a frantic search earlier for Stephen King's On Writing, which offers an insightful and practical approach to crafting stories and using language effectively. I'd like to take the book with me on vacation and read it again, but have no clue where it's hiding in all my yes-I've-lived-here-7-months-but-I-still-haven't-gotten-my-crap-together mess. But, if I can't offer King's thoughts on writing I can at least offer examples.

From the short story, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"...

Wondering what I should do. But there's really no question. It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living or get busy dying.

And from the short story, "The Body"...

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out.