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Re:How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist by breck on Thursday April 25, 2024 @02:59PM (#40161602)
> I think that the 45 years of life leading up to my first publication were a big part of what made me able to write something worth publishing.

"Before you can write the book, you have to be the book."

Re:How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist by hi-v-rocknroll on Friday April 26, 2024 @12:46AM (#40166024)
The greatest concentration of interesting folks are the elderly on the fringes of society. If a writer ever wanted to find an ideal biography subject if they weren't the book, there is a demographic of sane, elderly, rough sleepers on each coast of America who have experienced more than the average person can possibly imagine.
Re:How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist by defrost on Friday April 26, 2024 @01:30AM (#40166216)
The lead actor of Charlie's Country has an extensive biography that goes broader and deeper than many might expect. Just the Dennis Hopper stories alone make a tale worth telling.
Re:How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist by hi-v-rocknroll on Friday April 26, 2024 @02:29AM (#40166470)
Nice. I think I've heard of that title.

I've met a few gems amongst a cavalcade of colorful characters who perhaps could be captured fairly between pen and paper to record an echo of human splendor that should live beyond time.

- A paranoid but happy and cynical gentleman with long, scraggly hair like a wizard from the Appalachias who was a military aircraft electrician and an Apple rework tech. Stories spanning every feeling with hilarious exaggerations for emphasis.

- A former writer at big name NY newspaper, ex-hippie, and crab fisherman who had quite the life of drugs, women, and was part of it. Body might be shot, but a mind sharper than people who are 30 now without hyperbole. Knows where, when, and who of the cool spots of then and now.

- You'd swear he was dangerous or black Santa Claus. Nope, sweetest and coolest guy in the world. Picking cotton, keeping out of trouble during times that were turbulent, elevator repair, and teaching.

Re:How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist by defrost on Friday April 26, 2024 @03:22AM (#40166712)
Re:How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist by hi-v-rocknroll on Friday April 26, 2024 @07:32PM (#40175484)
Have to check that out. Good find!
Re:How Penelope Fitzgerald became a late blooming novelist by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF on Friday April 26, 2024 @07:00AM (#40167871)
Darn, one less backup career for me