This month has mostly been about interviews – that’s reading, not giving, them. Lacking in motivation and inspiration, I’ve been seeking it in the words of (sometimes unexpected) others. The jury’s out on how motivating it’s been, but these are just a few of my faves. Putting this list together caused me to wonder how much (and what) the individuals and quotes I’m drawn to reveals about myself. Answers on a postcard!
Hilary Mantel: “Public opinion is not something that features very highly in my life. Nobody should go into a trade like writing expecting applause, or universal approval, or even popularity.”
Akhil Sharma: “Seven years into writing a novel, I started to lose my mind.”
James M. Cain: “Writing a novel is like working on foreign policy. There are problems to be solved. It’s not all inspirational.”
Penny Martin: “The future is going to be about in-person transactions and real conversations, skills and sharing in real spaces, rather than the cabaret of the nameless we’ve witnessed over the past decade.”
Vanessa Friedman: “It’s hard to pinpoint when fashion became part of the fabric of public life: somewhere in between Bernard Arnault’s understanding that what was a collection of family artisans could be an industry, and Steve Jobs seeing that the rules of luxury could apply to any product.”
Elizabeth Gilbert: “The only thing that it is capable of feeling is the absolute value of this emotional equation, the exact distance that you have been flung from yourself.”
Mariah Carey: “Marilyn Monroe Productions was the first female-owned production company in Hollywood. She paved the way for women in Hollywood, and every single woman owes something to her for that, whether they agree with her image or not.”
Matt Zoller Seitz: “I believe that ninety percent of writer’s block is not the fault of the writer. It’s the fault of the writer’s wrongheaded educational conditioning.”
Emma Stone: “The permanence of it is what’s nerve-racking to me.”
Arianne Phillips: “There has to be a reason for everything.” (Ok she’s talking about costume design here, but a timely reminder)
Image: Charlotte Kemp-Muhl in Belle Plante, shot by Grey Kadel for Numéro May 2014
Girls Do Film 
Fabulous quotes. My fave is the one from James M. Cain. Very true!