To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.

Colette on growing old. (The Commonplace Book Project)

The Commonplace Project is a daily post based on Ray Bradbury’s advice to aspiring writers: read a poem, a short story, and an essay every day for 1000 days. These posts start with a quote and go wherever the rabbit hole leads. Follow The 1000 Day MFA so you don’t miss a thing.

“You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.”
— Colette, Speech on being elected to the Belgian Academy

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a French writer better known by just her surname, was born 146 years ago today. She was many things, but all of them boiled down to one. Colette was a storyteller.

When she was a very young woman she wrote a series of four racy novels called the Claudine stories. The books were published under her husband’s pen name — just Willie — and Colette received no credit for her work.

The 2018 biopic Colette stars Keira Knightly as Collete during the Claudine years…