I look at my voice and my abilities as a gift. I don't feel that I can even take any credit for it, but it's such a huge presence in my life. It is my life. It's my identity, it's everything. And it's given me a great deal of joy and a sense of purpose - I can't imagine my life without it.
Interpretation
This quote expresses the appreciation for one’s talents as essential elements of identity and purpose.
Emmylou Harris emphasizes the significance of her voice and abilities, regarding them not merely as skills, but as intrinsic gifts that shape her identity and provide her with immense joy and purpose. She feels a deep connection to these gifts and recognizes that they are foundational to her existence, highlighting the profound impact that art and personal expression can have on a person's life.
In practice
In a speech at an awards ceremony, one might say, 'Like Emmylou Harris, I see my talents as gifts that define who I am and bring me joy.'
You really do learn every day with every dog; they are all so unique and different. But if you're patient and you understand where they're coming from, and if you are consistent, they will be fine. They teach you to give your full attention.
Animals have a much better attitude to life and death than we do. They know when their time has come. We are the ones that suffer when they pass, but it's a healing kind of grief that enables us to deal with other griefs that are not so easy to grab hold of.
I find with records, they become what they're going to become. They take on a power and a direction of their own. Part of making records is to honor that and not try to force it.
There's a certain grace in accepting what your life is and embracing all the good things that have been - but there's still an expectation of good things to come. Not necessarily what you expected.
I didn't have any money. I had a sense of terrible loss. But what I also had was a fire in my belly. I wasn't going to go back to waiting tables. I felt I had to be better at fronting a band.
A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.
Because the writer must be a participant in the scene, while he's writing it — or at least taping it, or even sketching it. Or all three. Probably the closest analogy to the ideal would be a film director/producer who writes his own scripts, does his own camera work and somehow manages to film himself in action, as the protagonist or at least a main character.
I think classical ballet dancers dance on pointe because they're simultaneously touching the earth and reaching up to the skies
The Singaporean speculative tradition is different. Singapore doesn't conceive itself as the centre of the world or the one country that's going to save the world, so there's a different tone that comes out in the way speculative fiction is done. That's refreshing to read.
Don't ever write just for a trend or fad, because it's a moving target, and by the time you get your work out there, the trend or fad is gone. Dig deep; don't be afraid to write fiercely. Expose your heart.
The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.
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