“I studied what interested me and so I had to become a writer because my education had left me unsuited for a decent well-paying job.”
"Intense Ornate" interview with Amazon.co.uk (1999)
Context: I went to college to study drama where I discovered I had no talent and after a period of dropping out majored in cultural anthropology which of course meant more masks and dancing … I studied what interested me and so I had to become a writer because my education had left me unsuited for a decent well-paying job.
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Elizabeth Hand33
American writer 1957Related quotes
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