Wilson is one of my favorite writers, so this made for a fun read.
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“Live an actual life out there, a full life, the kind that will generate a surplus of stories. Don’t go slumming in order to garner a few superficial observations. A two-week camping trip doesn’t make you a mountain man, and a three-week job does not constitute the kind of life experience platform that will bear the weight of a lifetime of writing. If you want to say a lot, you need to have a lot to say.”
“Most of the good your reading and education has done for you is not something you can recall at all.”
“You read widely to be shaped, not so that you might be prepared to regurgitate.”
“As long as you live, if you continue to ask this question of language, “What else can it do?” you will always find an answer.”
“Good writing is like a great cathedral. The echoes are lovely.”
“The brain is not a shoebox that “gets full,” but is rather a muscle that expands its capacity with increased use. The more you know, the more you can know. The more you can do with words, the more you can do. As it turns out.”