Andrea Gibson

— Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

They say “fake it till you make it.” The problem with that though is that you’ve been faking it all week, and now all you have to show for it is a new car, a new job, new friends, a newfound sense of purpose, and…. Ah.

But the dark feels different in November.

– Nina MacLaughlin, from "The Dark Feels Different in November", The Paris Review

Tidal wave

I closed my eyes for a second Saw everything, all at once And the waves grew taller

The lighthouse was hanging on the lifeline The stars were falling into the ocean

And the water took over the city

Now everything I see is reminding me of where I want to be

Everything I see

can turn to dust in the blink of an eye

“You can run, run, run away from a lot of things in life, but you can’t run away from yourself. And the key to happiness is to understand and accept who you are.”

— Dale Archer

“No, I’m not ok. But I haven’t been ok since I was 11, maybe 12. I am still here though. I’m still breathing. For me, sometimes, that will have to be enough.”

— Clementine von Radics

“Please don’t expect me to always be good and kind and loving. There are times when I will be cold and thoughtless and hard to understand.”

— Sylvia Plath

Margaret Atwood, “The Blind Assassin.”

one time a professor asked me if i’d ever wanted to write anything “more important” than romance. and i said no. i was put on this earth to write about sad people kissing. and if another writer ever came up to me and said they wanted to write 400 pages containing nothing but a character baking a single loaf of bread each day, then i would tell them to do that. people don't write something because it's important. they write about something and that is what makes it important