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So I think I probably write down the conflict of, 'Oh yes I do want to be in
love. And yes I do want to be a loving, loving person. And yes I do want to be
~ you know ~ the mother of many children.' But at the same time there is part
of me that says that, 'I am also Lillian Hellman and I want to write the great
novel of all time.' And I want to go on the beach with my silent typewriter and
I don't want anybody to bother me... because I want to enhance this planet. I
came here for a reason. I didn't come here to be a mother. I didn't come here
to be a nun. And I did not come here to be a cleaning lady. I came here to be
a poet.
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I go from writing in my journal to typing out some ideas on the typewriter.
I make it into a full-on stanza poem. It's really fun for me because I just put
on music that I like that's got a good beat and makes me feel good and then I
type along to the beat. I just read the words and put it into rhyme and then I'll
that paper to the piano and just start writing, and it either happens or it doesn't.
Usually if I get it pretty complete on the paper before I get to the piano, then
it's usually real easy. If I go to the piano without anything, with just an empty
piece of paper and a pencil, then it's harder. But I do that sometimes. I just
sit down and play a chord and I'll just write a line, like say, 'the white winged
dove,' then I'll play a chord, or a couple of chords and I'll start humming something. |
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When I see that typewriter when I get in my [hotel] room, it just makes
me go, 'Wow.' If I feel like saying anything tonight, it's all there, it's all
ready. I light the candles, and I light some incense, and put on some music for
whatever mood I'm in, and it's my time. It's my special time alone. |
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We didn't get in until real late last night, until probably about four, and
I typed for about three hours. I was so tired that I would put my head down on
the typewriter and almost go to sleep, and then I'd wake back up and I'd type
another couple paragraphs. I go home from every tour with a binder full of journalistic
prose of the tour, and then also a lot of poetry. They [the band] don't
know that I'm writing this every night, I don't show them until the end of the
tour. Then I have it bound into a little book, and I give it to everybody. |
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I keep a journal, I've written everything down. Someday I'll have to write
a book that really tells everybody what the last 15 years have been like. It's
something I survived. |
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I tell people all the time that they should keep a journal, even if it's just,
'I had a terrible day today and I don't want to talk about it, love Stevie,' or
'I dreamt last night...' Even if it's just three sentences because at the end
of five or six days, you would have created a habit and you will find that over
a month that you have a whole story growing. Whether it's just for your own memories,
so you can go back at any age, or if you are a writer or a singer, or some part
of the creative business. You can be creative ~ anyone can be creative if they
want to ~ you just have to want to. |
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What a writer wants to do is put stuff out there and make people mull it over
in their minds until suddenly it's something that's way more important than turning
on the stereo. |
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If I have any discipline at all, it's come slowly over the years. I was never
trained. Nobody ever sat down and taught me how to play the guitar or write a
song or play the piano. I love to do it to this day, it's the greatest love of
my life. That doesn't take any discipline for me, that's what I like to do. Where
other people would rather go out and party, I would rather stay at home with my
grand piano and candles and incense and a glass of wine and an idea. |
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Since this award is for songwriting, I wanted to say a little bit to you, very
quickly, about songwriting. In 1975 when I first joined Fleetwood Mac, I really
thought, how am I going to plan this out. I'm uh, I'm gonna plan it, and I did,
I planned it and I decided to try to make little worlds for you guys to come with
me into for a little while, and I think that is what I love the most about my
writing. So I thank you all for coming into that little world with me, even if
it's just for a minute of your time, and being with me because that's what I do.
I love you and thank you so much. |
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Now
I do believe in love and I am the biggest romantic. I mean if I ~ I'm Cathy and
Heathcliff walks by I'd jump out the window absolutely not a chance ~ Sir Laurence
Olivier here I come, for sure.
