Ellen Gilchrist
Ellen Gilchrist
Ellen Gilchristis an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth20 February 1935
CountryUnited States of America
writing mind pieces
A piece of writing is the product of a series of explosions in the mind.
writing long mind
Tell me the truth about death. I don't know what it is. We have them, then they are gone but they stay in our minds. Their stories are part of us as long as we live and as long as we tell them or write them down.
writing good-friend intelligent
How often I have tried to tell writing students that the first thing a writer must do is love the reader and wish the reader well. The writer must trust the reader to be at least as intelligent as he is. Only in such well wishing and trust, only when the writer feels he is writing a letter to a good friend, only then will the magic happen.
heart mean writing
The first thing a writer has to do is find another source of income. Then, after you have begged, borrowed, stolen or saved up the money to give you time to write and you spend all of it staying alive while you write, and you write your heart out, after all that, maybe no one will publish it, and if they publish it, maybe no one will read it. That is the hard truth, that is what it means to be a writer.
spring flower writing
I haven't written poetry in a long time but I read it and I miss it. It is so hard to write. So hard to finish, so hard to find the exact word to make it shine. In honor of my youth I will write a poem to finish this essay. It is spring in the Ozark Mountains. The yellow flowers are blooming and the birds wake me at dawn and last night five planets lined up by the moon in the western sky. If that doesn't inspire me to poetry what will?
babies children conceive dressing nursing taking whether writers
I can't conceive of nursing babies and taking care of children and writing, too. I know there are writers that do that, but I'm too single-minded. I can't stand to be interrupted, whether I'm writing a story or dressing a child.
drawers kept pages since suppose
Ever since I was a child, I've kept boxes and drawers and pages of things that I liked. I suppose that it constitutes a journal of sorts, but it's not in a ledger or a notebook.
visit
My childhood is in my brother's house, and I like to visit there and be reminded.
alabama both home north northwest
My ancestors are Highland Scots, and my father's home in north Alabama is so much like northwest Arkansas. I have the same allergies in both places.
love
I love New York, but I wish they wouldn't put clothes on their dogs.
habit knowing life lived
I have lived most of my life in small towns, and I'm in the habit of knowing and talking to everyone.
great honored work
Having your work honored nationally is a great morale booster.
coast except seems south
The Mississippi coast is not like south Florida, but it always seems warm enough for sandals and short-sleeved shirts, except for now and then.
beauty schools
In the schools of small Midwestern towns, the only aristocracies are of beauty, intelligence, and athletic prowess.