Amy Hempel
Amy Hempel
Amy Hempelis an American short story writer and journalist. She teaches creative writing at Bennington College and University of Florida...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth14 December 1951
CountryUnited States of America
home thinking looks
I know that homes burn and that you should think what to save before they start to. Not because, in the heat of it, everything looks as valuable as everything else. But, because nothing looks worth the bother, not even your life.
heart people alive
Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.
baby men scare
The only time the word baby doesn't scare me is the time that it should, when it is what a man calls me.
sleep glasses water
I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if the shaking is still me.
fall broken speak
In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak.
bigs come-up mediums
I'm not good at small talk; I'm not good at big talk; and medium talk just doesn't come up.
lying mean thinking
I have written letters that are failures, but I have written few, I think, that are lies. Trying to reach a person means asking the same question over and over again: Is this the truth, or not? I begin this letter to you, then, in the western tradition. If I understand it, the western tradition is: Put your cards on the table.
dream needs
Dreams: the place most of us get what we need.
mean underwater sinking
Just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater.
wanted
Just once in my life--oh, when have I ever wanted anything just once in my life?
girl book boys
Sometimes I can better describe a person by another person's reaction. In a story in my first book, I couldn't think of a way to sufficiently describe the charisma of a certain boy, so the narrator says, "I knew girls who saved his gum."
writing thinking stories
I know when a story is finished when there is not a single thing more I can think to do to it. And since I know at the start what the last line will be, I know when I've reached that point as logically as I can that it's finished. As for the rewriting-it's not foolproof, of course, but if you're honest about having thought of every possibility and you still come back to what you have, what more can you do?
eye past alive
if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.
leader good-leader following
Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.