My father had always identified himself as a writer to my mother when they met. When they met, he was writing this great novel, there was no doubt about it. Part of why she left him was this delusion of… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
When I was a child, writing was the worst possible choice of a career in my family. My father had always identified himself as a writer to my mother when they met. When they met, he was writing this great… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
There are many ways to drown, only the most obvious wave their arms as they're going under. — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
We got him to talk to a psych doctor once, the doctor asked if he heard things other people don't. Sure, Paul answered, I… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“When I was really drunk, I started that stupid business with the bullet in my guts again. I was the only guy at the bar with a bullet in their guts. I kept putting my hand under my jacket, on my stomach and all, to keep the blood from dripping all over the place. I didn’t want anybody to know… — Nick Flynn Copy Share
Memoir is actually the most egoless genre, even though it might seem ostensibly so much ego-driven. In order for it to succeed, you have… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“He claims not to be drinking, but I don’t think he knows what this means.” — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
By the time I make my way to the border of Mauritania, to the edge of the Sahara, I see no end to being lost. You can spend your entire life simply falling in that direction. It isn't a station you reach but just the general state of going down. Once you make it back, if you make it back,… — Nick Flynn Copy Share
“(2002) In Rome, month upon month, I struggled with how to structure the book about my father (He already had the water, he just had to discover jars). At one point I laid each chapter out on the terrazzo floor, eighty-three in all, arranged them like the map of an imaginary city. Some of the piles of paper, I imagined,… — Nick Flynn Copy Share
In life you get one take, and it's perfect. It's strange, afterwards you might think I shouldn't have reacted that way, but that's the… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
For years before I became a father, I would try to spend as much time as I could with my friends who were parents… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“The boat has become supreme isolation, chosen isolation, holding myself apart from the world, which I only dimly understand anyway. I can sit on… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image