Guardians old and new

[shewhomust]

Clive James on writing:

"Well, Thomas Mann, he said - and this is great, this is writing - he said a writer is someone for whom writing is harder than it is for other people.

"That line is perfect in every way. Not only is it perfectly written, but it's absolutely true.

"The only thing I've got better at as the years have gone by is I've grown more resigned to the fact that it comes hard. You realise that hesitation and frustration and waiting are part of the process, and you don't panic. I get a lot better at not panicking. I get up every morning early if it's a writing day and I will do nothing else but write that day. But the secret is not to panic if it doesn't come."

(from a profile published earlier this week, Guardian 25th May 2009)

Barbara Trapido, in a column called I wish I'd written:

"My choice is Wuthering Heights, for all that it reads like a cross between The Secret Garden and Cold Comfort Farm. Life at the Heights makes milksops of us all as family meals are rent with flying table knives that lodge in people's necks, while abused puppies hang from the backs of chairs..."

(from the Guardian, 2nd April 1998)