Collectanea - A Miscellany of Collected Passages
\Col`lec*ta"ne*a\, n. pl. [Neut. pl. from L. collectaneus collected, fr. colligere. See {Collect}, v. t.] Passages selected from various authors, usually for purposes of instruction; miscellany; anthology. Webster's 1913
From a passage selected at random
One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.
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Collectanea is my catalog of passages clipped from books, magazines and the web.
On Writing
I've never studied writing and I struggle with it every day. Here are some passages bearing on this mysterious art.
- I Like Writing
- "I like finding feelings in words' ..."
- Writing From the Inside Out
- "It takes a while - often years - for the writer to get to appreaciate his effect on others..."
- The Value of Notebooks
- "I never actually get around to reading them and using what I've written, but I do tend to reproduce the same thoughts later."
- Give it, Give it All, Give it Now
- "The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now."
- What a Real Essay Is
- "In a real essay, you don't take a position and defend it. You notice a door that's ajar, and you open it and walk in to see what's inside."
- Or So I Feel
- "To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."