The other day I was playing Scrabble. I saw that I could close the space in D-E- -Y. I had an N… — Amy Hempel Made Copy Share Image
“Mrs. Linden was beautiful in spirit and in fact. Her wish, she told her daughter, was to be a beautiful woman and… — Amy Hempel Beautiful woman Copy Share Image
“A story happens when two equally appealing forces, or characters, or ideas try to occupy the same place at the same time,… — Amy Hempel Story Copy Share Image
Maybe this is not a come-down-from-the-ledge story. But I tell it with the thought that the woman on the ledge will ask… — Amy Hempel Ledges Copy Share Image
There’s so much I can’t read because I get so exasperated. Someone starts describing the character boarding the plane and pulling the… — Amy Hempel Babe Copy Share Image
I know that homes burn and that you should think what to save before they start to. Not because, in the heat… — Amy Hempel Bother Copy Share Image
“It is such a pretty story, told to me by a Cuban woman I met in a bar at the beach. She… — Amy Hempel Dark eyes Copy Share Image
“I read about a famous mystery writer who worked for one week in a department store. One day she saw a woman… — Amy Hempel Writing Copy Share Image
We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive. — Amy Hempel Alive Copy Share Image
He could not wait to get rid of them so he could enjoy remembering them. — Amy Hempel Enjoy Copy Share Image
I thought, my love is so good, why isn't it calling the same thing back. — Amy Hempel Calling Copy Share Image
They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey. — Amy Hempel Animal Copy Share Image
I wanted to be a veterinarian, but slipped up when I hit organic chemistry. — Amy Hempel Chemistry Copy Share Image
I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is… — Amy Hempel Coastal Copy Share Image
consolation is a beautiful word. everyone skins his knee-that doesnt make yours hurt anyless. — Amy Hempel Beautiful Copy Share Image
Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open. — Amy Hempel Door Copy Share Image
The only time the word baby doesn't scare me is the time that it should, when it is what a man calls… — Amy Hempel Baby Copy Share Image
I think you would like Warren. He drinks Courvoisier in a Coke can, and has a laugh like you'd find in a… — Amy Hempel Bubbles Copy Share Image
I meet a person, and in my mind I'm saying three minutes; I give you three minutes to show me the spark. — Amy Hempel Giving Copy Share Image
It is possible to imagine a person so entirely that the image resists attempts to dislodge it. — Amy Hempel Imagine Copy Share Image
I'm not good at small talk; I'm not good at big talk; and medium talk just doesn't come up. — Amy Hempel Bigs Copy Share Image
Sometimes I can better describe a person by another person's reaction. In a story in my first book, I couldn't think of… — Amy Hempel Better person Copy Share Image
“I like radio personalities, and I like to change lanes. And losing yourself on the freeway is like living at the beach--you're… — Amy Hempel Freeway Copy Share Image
When my mother died, my father's early widowhood gave him social cachet he would not have had if they had divorced. He… — Amy Hempel Bigger Copy Share Image
if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes… — Amy Hempel Alive Copy Share Image
I've always known when I start a story what the last line is. It's always been the case, since the first story… — Amy Hempel Cases Copy Share Image
I probably have less revision than those who have that wonderful rush of story to tell - you know, I can't wait… — Amy Hempel Done Copy Share Image
“You will stand in line for snacks behind good clothes on bad bodies, behind the man who is so drunk he has… — Amy Hempel Copy Share Image
Obviously, in journalism, you're confined to what happens. And the tendency to embellish, to mythologize, it's in us. It makes things more… — Amy Hempel Confined Copy Share Image
I told him about the way they get to know you. Not the way people do, the way they flatter you by… — Amy Hempel Compliment Copy Share Image
Then the children went to bed, or at least went upstairs, and the men joined the women for a cigarette on the… — Amy Hempel Bed Copy Share Image
“For example, the questions that say, "Would you prefer..." "Would you prefer (a) Answer questions about what you do, (b) Answer questions… — Amy Hempel Questions Think Copy Share Image
“Before I took to the road, a friend tried to get me to go to a department store with him. He said… — Amy Hempel Friendship Copy Share Image
I started writing by doing small related things but not the thing itself, circling it and getting closer. I had no idea… — Amy Hempel Fiction Copy Share Image
I have written letters that are failures, but I have written few, I think, that are lies. Trying to reach a person… — Amy Hempel Asking Copy Share Image
“The neighborhood drug dealer kicks out his wife. He moves in a girlfriend and the wife finds out. The wife lets herself… — Amy Hempel Community Copy Share Image
It was like that class at school where the teacher talks about Realization, about how you could realize something big in a… — Amy Hempel Bigs Copy Share Image
