This is why I read novels: so I can escape my own unrelenting monologue.
I don't think I would have been a writer if I hadn't been a mother. I wanted to construct something that contained some of these feelings that I had, some of these discoveries or revelations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being a mother deeply influenced Carol Shields' writing, driving her to express her feelings and insights through literature.
In this quote, Carol Shields reflects on how her experiences and emotions as a mother shaped her identity as a writer. She emphasizes the importance of personal experiences in creating art, highlighting that her revelations and feelings about motherhood inspired her to develop narratives that capture the complexity of these emotions. This connection between life experiences and creative expression illustrates the profound impact of motherhood on her literary work.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at a literary festival, this quote could resonate with aspiring writers reflecting on their personal experiences.
More from Carol Shields
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There is a certain unique and strange delight about walking down an empty street alone.
So all in all there wasn't anything really wrong with my life. Except that, like most everyone else's I knew about, it had a big gaping hole in it, an enormous emptiness, and I didn't know how to fill it or even know what belonged there.
You have left me so long to struggle against death, alone, that I feel and see only death! I feel like death!
The secret of life', he said, 'is to become very very good at somethin' that's very very 'ard to do.
Suddenly it wasn't only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better. I could see boys going down under street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was still good in it, and they wouldn't believe you if you did.
As you travel though life, offer good wishes to each being you meet.