John Updike had an essay in the Nov/Dec issue of the AARP magazine. It was entitled The Writer in Winter, and addressed the challenges specific to aging writers. It’s a very nice essay and I recommend reading it in its entirety. But in the meanwhile, here’s my favorite line:
"Prose should have a flow, the forward momentum of a certain energized weight; it should feel like a voice tumbling into your ear."
Isn’t that lovely?
Tracy Abell 
That’s beautiful!
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It is beautiful. That man knew how to turn a phrase, that’s for sure.
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What a gorgeous, gifted writer he was! This essay contains so many quoteable phrases, including (but definitely not limited to) this one:
“A few images, a few memorable acquaintances, a few cherished phrases, circle around the aging writer’s head like gnats as he strolls through the summertime woods at gloaming.”
Thanks, Tracy, for pointing it out.
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Yes, I love that one, too. I guess it’s silly to select one line as my favorite when there are so many gems in there. He was something else.
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What a gorgeous, gifted writer he was! This essay contains so many quoteable phrases, including (but definitely not limited to) this one:
“A few images, a few memorable acquaintances, a few cherished phrases, circle around the aging writer’s head like gnats as he strolls through the summertime woods at gloaming.”
Thanks, Tracy, for pointing it out.
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Not sure I love the idea of anything tumbling into my ear. Even if it’s a voice. But I like the notion.
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Now that you mention it, ouch.
Maybe if the words are swaddled in cotton so as to not injure…
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Now that you mention it, ouch.
Maybe if the words are swaddled in cotton so as to not injure…
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