Quote

I might have missed my calling as an editor. In the spring, the sight of my empty garden beds gives me the horticultural equivalent of writers' block: So much space! So many plants to choose among, and yet none of them seem quite right!

Susan Orlean

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Susan Orlean
Age: 69
Born: 1955
Born: October 31
Journalist
Writer
Cleveland
Ohio
Much
Gives
None
Plants
Quite
Garden
Missed
Space
Sight
Editors
Seems
Spring
Block
Might
Empty
Bed
Right
Among
Plant
Beds
Many
Choose
Calling
Editor
Giving
Seem
Writers
Equivalent

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I remember thinking that a girdle was barbaric, and that never in a million years would I treat myself like a sleeping bag being shoved into a stuff sack. Never! Instead, I would run marathons and work out and be in perfect shape and reject the tyranny of the girdle forever.
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Sense of smell, of course, is only one of those dog qualities that can't be replicated or improved upon. I've been researching dogs in warfare for my book about 'Rin Tin Tin,' and I've read many accounts of their heroics: carrying messages through battle, alerting troops to enemy planes, and even parachuting behind enemy lines.
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There are cultures that believe having your photograph taken steals your soul. I don't think there is a stolen soul in a picture, but still - why is it so hard to throw them away?
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I think coexisting with another life form is a very rich experience. It's why people keep plants and animals.
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I suppose I do have one embarrassing passion- I want to know what it feels like to care about something passionately.
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I've always been afraid of video games - not afraid that I wouldn't like them, but that I would like them too much, and that after mere seconds in front of any particularly bright and absorbing game, I would abandon all ambition, turn into a mouth-breathing zombie, and develop a wide, sofa-shaped rear end.
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I would argue that it might be easier to endure loneliness than to endure the idea that you might disappear.
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Orchid hunting is a mortal occupation.
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Sometimes I think I've figured out some order in the universe, but then I find myself in Florida
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Recently, I have come to assume that any call to my landline is from a telemarketer or an automated call from Terminex, letting me know that our regularly scheduled pest-extermination service will occur on its regular schedule. So I usually ignore my home phone.
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Having animals in the city is entirely different from having animals out in the country. For one thing, it's more social. When you live on lots of acres without neighbors within a stone's throw, your dog-walks are usually solitary rambles over hill and dale.
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One of my favorite activities as a teen-ager was to watch television over the phone with my best friend.
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You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it.
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When I still lived in Manhattan, people-watching was my hobby, and I spent many Sunday afternoons eating up the scene from a window seat at a Starbucks on Broadway.
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The fact that dogs are not people means you don't have as much response to the particulars.
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I have long been one of those tedious people who rails against the coronation of 'student-athletes.' I have heard the argument that big-time athletics bring in loads of money to universities. I don't believe the money goes anywhere other than back into the sports teams, but that's another story.
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If you had really loved something, wouldn't a little bit of it always linger?
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I am dismayed to realize that much of the advice I used to parcel out to aspiring writers has passed its sell-by date.
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Libraries are what is best about us as a society: open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, engaging.
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The iPhone calendar isn't bad, but it isn't great, either. It only offers a day view and a month view - it doesn't have a week view, which drives me crazy.
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