You don't realise how much you're holding onto until you start to let go of it. I had had loads of therapy and thought I had come to terms with who I am, but there's something in the process of… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
I think the secret of memoirs is keeping those parts of yourself off the page, which makes what you do share more valuable. — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
I went through in the edits and cut tons of stuff that was "funny" because if it wasn't funny at the time, so it… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are very often not really what happened. And as I started to write stuff down, I started to challenge what I thought I knew about myself, my culture, my family, all of it. It was a huge, destroying process that completely took over my life. I just wasn't here, I mean I was… — Damian Barr Copy Share
The hardest bits of my book to read were the easiest bits to write because they were the most immediate. Probably because I had never stopped thinking about them on some level. Those bits I was just channelling and those were the most exciting writing days. The bits I found harder were the bits that happen in between, you know,… — Damian Barr Copy Share
I had to do things to myself on the page that had been done to me in real life. I had to try and drown myself in the bath. You have to do that. And the impulse is to rescue yourself and to spare the reader, but I can't rescue myself. And why should I spare the reader when nobody… — Damian Barr Copy Share
I cut a lot of cringy sex stuff and a lot of stuff I thought was too personal. I think secret gardens are very… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
I am a gay writer, but I am also a Scottish writer and some days a lazy writer, or a funny writer. Being gay… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
Scotland has always been independent. We have our own legal system, our own culture; I don't see the issue. We are different and I… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
I do feel a responsibility. It's a privilege to be able to speak about it, but I don't speak for all gay people. — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
You don't realise how much you're holding onto until you start to let go of it. I had had loads of therapy and thought… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
I could never do just one thing, but everything I do is in the direction of stories. Sometimes writing them, sometimes showcasing them, sometimes… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
Because I work at other things, whenever I get a chance to write I feel grateful for it. But I learned that sometimes, I… — Damian Barr Copy Share Image
