Tag: despair

  • January 26, 2017

    January 26, 2017

    You think you will always remember. You think you will never forget. But you do forget. Little things—the slant of light, the color of the sky, the words someone said, the order of things—all the particulars of the joy, or despair or wonder fade after time. I’m saying this now because the anniversary of my…

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  • May 5, 2015

    May 5, 2015

    Sometimes, for no reason at all, a feeling of hopelessness will settle down on top of me. I used to call this feeling “low-grade existential despair.” A friend of my brother’s calls it “the nudgies.” This morning, I woke up with that feeling hanging over me, but then I felt a burst of happiness. Why?…

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  • February 16, 2012

    February 16, 2012

    “A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”—Thomas Mann I spent all day yesterday going through the copy-edited pages of the new novel. My desk was covered with papers and notes and sticky notes. I laughed quite a bit. I cursed a few times. I felt hopeful.…

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