When I lock myself up to write, I cannot allow myself to think about the censor or the reviewer or anyone but my characters and their story!
Anybody who says, 'My childhood was completely happy,' is a person who isn't remembering the truth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that a truly happy childhood is often a misconception, as everyone experiences challenges.
Judy Blume's quote highlights the complexity of childhood experiences, implying that while there may be joyful moments, they are usually interwoven with challenges and struggles. It serves as a reminder that nostalgia can cloud our memories, leading us to overlook the difficulties we faced in our formative years. Acknowledging that happiness is not the sole experience of childhood can foster a deeper understanding of human development and the nuanced nature of life.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of growing up, this quote could be used to emphasize that childhood experiences are often mixed.
More from Judy Blume
All quotes βWhat I remember when I started to write was how I couldn't wait to get up in the morning to get to my characters.
What can happen if a young reader picks up a book he/she isn't yet ready for? Questions, maybe. Usually, that child puts down the book and says, 'Boring.' Or, 'I'm not ready for this.' Kids are really good at knowing what they can handle.
Concentrate on how good if feels to be alive. No matter what. Just to see the color of the sky, just to smell the air, and feel the wind in your face
I wrote 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret' right out of my own experiences and my own feelings when I was in sixth grade.
Nobody ever asks me why my characters don't text each other. Besides, as soon as you put something 'electronic' in a book, it's already out of date by the time it's published: everything will have changed. Human emotion, on the other hand, will never change.
Similar quotes
The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do.
I once cried because I had no shoes to play soccer, but one day, I met a man who had no feet.
I'm the luckiest broad on two feet, I'll tell you that. They say once a woman passes 40 she doesn't get any good parts, so I'm blessed.
(on grief) And you do come out of it, thatβs true. After a year, after five. But you donβt come out of it like a train coming out of a tunnel, bursting through the downs into sunshine and that swift, rattling descent to the Channel; you come out of it as a gull comes out of an oil-slick. You are tarred and feathered for life.
If I was a parent or a kid, I would need a cell phone, and those things are invaluable, but my kids are out of the house now, and I am thrilled when I wake up to not have a cell phone, and feel like today is stretching out in front of me for 1,000 hours, as it seems.
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish.