if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive. — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
Since his mother died I have seen him steam a cucumber thinking it was zucchini. That's the kind of thing that turns my heart… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
“A story happens when two equally appealing forces, or characters, or ideas try to occupy the same place at the same time, and they're… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
“It is such a pretty story, told to me by a Cuban woman I met in a bar at the beach. She left the… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
Journalism taught me how to write a sentence that would make someone want to read the next one. You are trained to get rid… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
I had a mother I could only seem to please with verbal accomplishments of some sort or another. She read constantly, so I read… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
“Mrs. Linden was beautiful in spirit and in fact. Her wish, she told her daughter, was to be a beautiful woman and surprise people… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
Then the children went to bed, or at least went upstairs, and the men joined the women for a cigarette on the porch, absently… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
“It comes back to the question, whom are you writing for? Who are the readers you want? Who are the people you want to… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
There’s so much I can’t read because I get so exasperated. Someone starts describing the character boarding the plane and pulling the seat back.… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
The year I began to say vahz instead of vase, a man I barely knew nearly accidentally killed me. — Amy Hempel Copy Share
“The psychic said I would have two children. This makes me shake my head. I know you are not supposed to leave a baby… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
“I read about a famous mystery writer who worked for one week in a department store. One day she saw a woman come in… — Amy Hempel Copy Share
