Shirley Jackson

Along about the beginning of February when the days of winter seem endless and no amount of wistful recollecting can bring back any air of summer I caught one of those colds which last for two days in the children and two weeks with me.

I delight in what I fear.

I very much dislike writing about myself or my work, and when pressed for autobiographical material can only give a bare chronological outline which contains no pertinent facts.

Life Among the Savages is a disrespectful memoir of my children.

February when the days of winter seem endless and no amount of wistful recollecting can bring back any air of summer.

I never was a person who wanted a handout. I was a cafeteria worker. I'm not too proud to ask the Best Western manager to give me a job. I have cleaned homes.

I have always loved to use fear, to take it and comprehend it and make it work and consolidate a situation where I was afraid and take it whole and work from there.