Creativity Quote by Terri Windling

There is a quiet manifesto tucked into Windling's use of "also": a refusal to accept the mainstream canon as either complete or sufficient. She isn't rejecting what everyone already knows; she's insisting that cultural literacy should have a second track, one that runs parallel to the bestseller list and the algorithm. "Gems" does a lot of work here. It's tactile, handmade language from an artist: value discovered through attention, not assigned by hype. A gem isn't just rare; it's something you have to turn in the light to see properly.

The phrase "average reader" is the sharpest edge. It sounds neutral, but it's really a critique of how reading habits get standardized by publishing, marketing, and social media consensus. Windling positions herself as a scout, maybe even a smuggler, moving overlooked work across the border of mass taste. The subtext: the "average reader" isn't at fault. The system is. People miss gems because the pathways to them are obscured.

Context matters, too. Coming from an artist (and Windling's creative world is steeped in myth, folklore, and overlooked traditions), the line reads like a curatorial ethic: make room for the strange, the small-press, the out-of-print, the work that doesn't trend well but endures. It's an invitation to a different kind of cultural status game, where the prize isn't being early to the obvious, but being faithful to the hidden.