For me as a person, friendships are incredibly important to me, but in writing, they can distract me. — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“The address label wouldn't come off so I put the ripped electric bill back in its stack by the phone. On top… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“We are all, generally, symmetrical: ants, elephants, lions, fish, flowers, leaves. But she was a tree. No one expects a tree to… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
I like the idea of a place that is dealing with painful, messy, frightening, and very human events that is also so… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
Novels are so much unrulier and more stressful to write. A short story can last two pages and then it's over, and… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“And, sure, fine, I do check my phone about every two minutes, but so do a lot of people, and it's better… — Aimee Bender Addiction Copy Share Image
“We have better things to do. We realize life is not just a dress rehearsal and if you realize it, you don't… — Aimee Bender Better things Copy Share Image
With my hand in his, I looked at all the apartment buildings with rushes of love, peering in the wide streetside windows… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
Some creative writing programs seem evil, but my experience at Irvine was totally the opposite, where I feel like they were really… — Aimee Bender Creative Copy Share Image
Mom loved my brother more. Not that she didn't love me - I felt the wash of her love every day, pouring… — Aimee Bender Bodies of water Copy Share Image
That's the thing with handmade items. They still have the person's mark on them, and when you hold them, you feel less… — Aimee Bender Burgers Copy Share Image
“On the drive home, she sat in the backseat, as she did on occasion. He said it was to protect her from… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“He moved his fingers down her whole spine, one by one by one, and during the time it took to do that,… — Aimee Bender Empty space Copy Share Image
“When she left the store, emboldened, receipt tucked into her purse, folded twice, Janet thought of all the chicken dishes she had… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
There's a gift in your lap and it's beautifully wrapped and it's not your birthday. You feel wonderful, you feel like somebody… — Aimee Bender Alive Copy Share Image
“Joseph would reach out to me occasionally, the same way the desert blooms a flower every now and then. You get so… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“In other words, don't be reductive. Often, writers will rush to an ending that completes, or sums up, or reduces their story… — Aimee Bender Writing Copy Share Image
“My soup arrived. Crusted with cheese, golden at the edges. The waiter placed it carefully in front of me, and I broke… — Aimee Bender Food Copy Share Image
“My birthday is in March, and that year it fell during an especially bright spring week, vivid and clear in the narrow… — Aimee Bender Birthday Copy Share Image
“When I crossed the street, according to my mother, I still had to hold someone’s hand. At ten, I would be able… — Aimee Bender Parenting Copy Share Image
“My favorite of all was still the place on Vermont, the French cafe, La Lyonnaise, that had given me the best onion… — Aimee Bender Cafe Copy Share Image
“The phone is about the same size as a cigarette pack. It's no surprise to me that the traditional cigarette lighter in… — Aimee Bender Addiction Copy Share Image
“During the descent, she gave the doily to the man across the aisle, worried about his ailing son, and the needlework was… — Aimee Bender Handmade Copy Share Image
“Ponytail girl leaned over and she and the tall boy kissed and it was carcinogen gums and magical.” — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“He said, I always thought the woman I’d marry would hit me easy, in a bolt of lightning, and there is not… — Aimee Bender Lightning Copy Share Image
I love all the arts - so museums, theatre, music, walks near trees or by the ocean, time with people, psychological readings. — Aimee Bender Art Copy Share Image
“I felt her come by later, as I was dozing off. Her standing, by my bed. The depth of shadow of a… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
I really like feeling connected to people and feeling like I have a good, solid sense of empathy. — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
Light is good company, when alone; I took my comfort where I found it, and the warmest yellow bulb in the living-room… — Aimee Bender Babysitter Copy Share Image
As a kid, I liked making up stories, and I wrote a story about a kangaroo and a bat with Christy Chang,… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
I didn’t mind the quiet stretches. It was like we were trying out the idea of being side by side. — Aimee Bender Ideas Copy Share Image
I have trouble describing my own style, since it's sort of like describing my own eye color or something. — Aimee Bender Color Copy Share Image
Writing can be a frightening, distressing business, and whatever kind of structure or buffer is available can help a lot. — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“Rose,sensing her mother's distress..."She did not face me, but I could feel the vibration of tears, a kind of pain hive,rustling inside… — Aimee Bender Emotional pain Copy Share Image
“Most teenage girls don't give old people the time of day which is sad because all old people do all the time… — Aimee Bender Advice Copy Share Image
“...after all, she had birthed us alone, diapered and fed us, helped us with homework, kissed and hugged us, poured her love… — Aimee Bender Love Copy Share Image
It is all about numbers. It is all about sequence. It's the mathematical logic of being alive. If everything kept to its… — Aimee Bender Alive Copy Share Image
“...part of trying to attract those poet-men was to look a little like I had wandered onto campus by accident after having… — Aimee Bender Poetry Copy Share Image
“I like to smile at the men who look mean so they know I believe in their better selves. That makes a… — Aimee Bender Copy Share Image
“At lunch you order steamed vegetables because you're remembering that you have a heart too. You feel humbled by your heart, it… — Aimee Bender Health Copy Share Image
