Lynn Coady
Lynn Coady
Lynn Coady is a Canadian novelist and journalist...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth24 January 1970
CountryCanada
balanced beautiful humans petty time trying ugly
I'm trying to get at something a little transcendent between humans. But at the same time, there's all that baggage: What's beautiful about humans is what's balanced by what's kind of ugly and petty and depressing.
certain expecting forgot line social strongly time uncertain whenever written
Something I've always written about is social expectations: that the eyes of the community are on you all the time, expecting you to line up with certain social norms, certain behaviours. Whenever you forgot about them, they'd be strongly reiterated to you, in no uncertain terms.
chunk claim preference time
Readers who claim a preference for short-form over long often tell me it's because they don't have time to commit to a book-length chunk of writing.
buy pleasure spent time
To buy dinner transmits that you feel time spent in your date's company has been a pleasure and a privilege.
clumsy eloquent expression flowers love seem time words
Flowers are an easy, eloquent expression of love at a time when words can seem clumsy and inadequate.
apex competing dudes eating figured friendship front giant human imaginable insults personal pretending profane punch social struck time utter
There was a time when I thought dudes had friendship all figured out. The focus on eating things in front of giant screens, pretending to punch one another, competing over who can utter the grossest and most profane personal insults imaginable - this struck me as the very apex of human social exchange.
confident cultivate easy fellow irish nova open social tea time took training tricks
I went into the world confident my tea training would open many doors. And I did particularly well with the Irish and fellow Nova Scotians over 60. But this only got me so far. It took a long time to cultivate the tricks of easy social interaction.
outside physical time women
Here's the thing about lingerie: The only time we see it outside our own bedrooms, it is on women who are gloriously freakish in their physical perfection.
decided natural time
I decided a long time ago to be myself and not worry too much about cultivating some kind of personality that didn't feel natural or true to who I am.
atheist organized religion simply sunday
I'm no atheist - I'm lazy. I really do like hassle-free Sunday mornings. I have a problem with organized religion, so I've simply opted out. Live and let live, I figure.
exactly honestly human responsibility
It's a moral absolute: If you are going to make a human being, you have a fundamental responsibility to that person - to honestly disclose exactly who they are and where they come from.
chance move response tells
When a man tells a woman there is no chance of a formal, committed, long-term relationship, the only self-respecting response is to take him at his word and move on.
What I've learned is that you get better at writing by writing, and that 'youthful energy' will only get you so far.
again burnt copy editing finished genuinely gone novel since work writer
Ever since 'Strange Heaven,' I haven't really reread my old work. Not so much because I don't like the writer I was, or because I find flaws in the writing, but more because I get so burnt out on a novel once I've finished writing, revising, editing and copy editing it that I genuinely never want to look at it again after it's gone to press.