[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$flfoABojm-1qxFMJqpflsjT_YYGBE6bnrFq8xftlPHvA":3,"$fdPQR2dmMWXipgzwOGiX7ahA7Hn9-4ZeFMJcH8aG1X6I":12},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"bio_jsonld":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},11197,"Rick Gekoski","R",6,null,"rick-gekoski",[],{"quotes":13,"pagination":108},[14,21,28,34,61,82],{"id":15,"quote_text":16,"author_id":5,"source_id":8,"has_image":17,"author":18,"source":19,"quote_tag":20,"commentary":9},3377009,"What is so addictive about fiction is that it is the one reliable place in which we can apprehend and participate in – fully understand – the inward world of another person.",false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":22,"quote_text":23,"author_id":5,"source_id":8,"has_image":17,"author":24,"source":25,"quote_tag":26,"commentary":27},3376999,"You can’t simply put a book down or away.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis quote is likely from Rick Gekoski's book \"If I Loved You Less\", a collection of essays exploring his experiences as an author, editor, and literary critic. Born in 1946, Gekoski's life was marked by a passion for literature and learning, but also by struggles with personal relationships and the challenges of establishing himself as a writer. By the time he penned this essay, Gekoski had already faced years of rejection, criticism, and self-doubt.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nOn the surface, the quote seems to caution against abandoning one's creative endeavors or dismissing past work. However, upon closer examination, it reveals a more profound truth: that our attachment to a project can be a double-edged sword. By insisting on revisiting and refining a book, Gekoski is highlighting the tension between perfectionism and procrastination, revealing that sometimes, letting go of something we've poured our hearts into requires immense courage.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nTo apply this mindset in your own creative work, consider adopting a \"parking lot\" approach: when you're stuck or dissatisfied with a project, acknowledge the emotional attachment but set it aside temporarily, allowing yourself to return to it later with fresh eyes and a clearer head. By doing so, you'll develop the mental agility to navigate the delicate balance between commitment and detachment.",{"id":29,"quote_text":30,"author_id":5,"source_id":8,"has_image":17,"author":31,"source":32,"quote_tag":33,"commentary":9},3376989,"Reading is how we learn to attach ourselves to ourselves, and to others, and to the world: reading inhabits us with the tendrils of love.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":35,"quote_text":36,"author_id":5,"source_id":37,"has_image":17,"author":38,"source":39,"quote_tag":40,"commentary":9},466169,"He won't remember any of this, he's too young and it's too painful. Children are wonderfully self-preserving. They filter memory, cleanse and sanitise it, unless it's too awful to renounce. And this isn't. Or is it? These gummy spots of time that inextricably adhere when so much more is erased, how do we account for their tenacity?",2,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[41,46,51,56],{"id":42,"tag":43},2648948,{"id":44,"tag_name":45},1149,"pain",{"id":47,"tag":48},2648946,{"id":49,"tag_name":50},1643,"loss",{"id":52,"tag":53},2648945,{"id":54,"tag_name":55},1657,"grief",{"id":57,"tag":58},2648947,{"id":59,"tag_name":60},2189,"memory",{"id":62,"quote_text":63,"author_id":5,"source_id":37,"has_image":17,"author":64,"source":65,"quote_tag":66,"commentary":9},273079,"What is so addictive about fiction is that it is the one reliable place in which we can apprehend and participate in - fully understand - the inward world of another person.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[67,72,77],{"id":68,"tag":69},1680589,{"id":70,"tag_name":71},177,"books",{"id":73,"tag":74},1680590,{"id":75,"tag_name":76},460,"fiction",{"id":78,"tag":79},1680591,{"id":80,"tag_name":81},5777,"novels",{"id":83,"quote_text":84,"author_id":5,"source_id":37,"has_image":17,"author":85,"source":86,"quote_tag":87,"commentary":9},42922,"If you will read and listen, you will admit a multiplicity of voices and points of view, consider them with some humility, allow them gracious entrance however strident or discordant some of them may sound, then you will grow and change, and each of these voices will become a constituent part of who you become, an atom of growing being. It is literature and only literature than can do this.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[88,93,98,103],{"id":89,"tag":90},292015,{"id":91,"tag_name":92},33,"self",{"id":94,"tag":95},292014,{"id":96,"tag_name":97},52,"reading",{"id":99,"tag":100},292013,{"id":101,"tag_name":102},1841,"literature",{"id":104,"tag":105},292012,{"id":106,"tag_name":107},3730,"empathy",{"currentPage":109,"totalPages":109,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":110},1,10]