Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Kate Zambreno on writing, via Twitter

I should get a Storify or something, but 1) I hate Twitter 2) I hate Storify 3) I log in like once a year. (I wish she'd go back to blogging, Frances Farmer Is My Sister was amazing. sigh.)

I didn't go to MAPH for writing, I wanted to be a writer, but thought maybe I would become a performance theorist (didn't happen)
I think, as Carson McCullers writes, Writing a novel is a lonely life. It's like a marathon where you're asthmatic and depressed.
Have faith in yourself- don't show writing to others unless they give you energy, don't think abt the market, pick away slowly...
and I think, your style becomes what you're capable of. Keep notebooks of that singular obsession. Something will emerge.
the truth is writing a novel takes a lot longer than media stories suggest. if you're not impatient for time it will happen.
and write out of reading - a lot of people think a book has to be totally new, nothing's new, it is new by being yours
if you dont' think writing will turn into a career, you will write &get stuff out there. promise. if that is your singular desire
but worry about a)writing first and then b)getting stuff out there. The b) comes, with the work. Good luck!
if you want to write novels - don't get a Ph.D. That's just my two cents. Writing takes time. a Ph.D. will suck up all time.

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