Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays

by Joan Didion

That is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.

Remember what it was to be me: that is always the point.

I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.