Monday, June 4, 2012

Creativity Exercise: Put Out the Fire

Happy Monday!

Over the weekend, I was driving somewhere with the radio on. I was flipping stations and don't know what the DJ was talking about, but he said this line and attributed it to Tennessee Williams:

We all live in a house on fire.

Now, that's a fabulous phrase. I thought maybe it was from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but I couldn't find it in a quick skim. Any of you know where it's from?

Meanwhile, here's your creativity exercise to start the week. Figure out what's on fire in your house -- what makes you want to run screaming out the door. Then, don't ignore it. Put the fire out. It's hard to be at our creative best when there's something nagging at us -- something we know we need to do, to fix, to say. This week, deal with the issue and move on.

Right after you find the quote for me ...

6 comments:

Mike Brown said...

According to http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tennessee_Williams, it's from The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963)

Bud Simpson said...

"The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore"
Source

Andrew said...

Jan, the quote is from "the milk train doesn't stop here anymore," a play that didn't run very long.

Jan said...

Thank you, Mike, Big Bunny and Andrew! Now that I moderate comments (yep, had to, spamalot wasn't pretty), no one could tell that the question had been answered until I posted all the answers. So nice to receive so much help!

The play may not have run very long, but it clearly had the usual, brilliant Tennessee Williams' voice.

Chuck said...

That quote is attributable to B.L.Zee-Bub, the famous rapper.

Pat O. said...

"We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it."
Tennessee Williams