You’ve been thinking about a project, trying out beginnings, thinking through images. In your mind, this book, short story, essay, or poem is evolving into something brilliant—something shimmering like stained glass, light streaming through the colors, gleaming, perfect, like the rose window in Notre Dame. Ann Patchett talks about this phenomenon, how that stunning … [Read more...]
Writing Quotes: Ann Patchett on writing as miserable
Is writing a miserable, awful business? Ask the writer sitting in front of the blank screen, staring at the blinking cursor, struggling to begin his piece—his deadline two days away. Ask the writer who opened her email inbox to see a rejection from her dream publication. Ask the writer whose friends keep forwarding a scathing review of his recently released novel, … [Read more...]