39 Quotes by Jill McCorkle

No one likes to talk about the positive parts of getting older and aging into orphanhood, how with your parents you often bury a lot of things you were never able to confront or fix or let go of.

It made me realize that Beatrice had changed; that she did not pull her wagon so much as she got taken for rides.

The simple rule: some get saved, but most don't. The choices are important before the years begin to go so very fast.

If a nuclear disaster occurred, and you had to live out those final painful days just stretched out somewhere thinking about your life--This is who I am. This is what I love. This is what I believe--who would you want hearing your whispers? Or perhaps better: Who do you trust to hear your whispers? Whose breath do you want mingled with your own? Whose flesh still warm beside you?

Make their exits as gentle and loving as possible...Tell them how good it will be, even if you don't believe it yourself. You're southern, you know how to do that.

My joy as a writer is circling around and around and down and down to find out who the real person is.

For years, I felt I was a novelist, but now I know I can write short fiction.

I always tell my students, 'If you walk around with your eyes and ears open, you can't possibly live long enough to write all the novels you'll encounter.'

I think too many people edit themselves way too soon. There's plenty of time to edit, and it is a crucial part of it all, too.