Dip over to Salon and dig the most gifted Jennifer Egan: One of my strengths as a writer is that I’m a good problem-solver. I write these unthinking, ungoverned first drafts. The project for me always is to turn that instinctive stuff into pages that work. I want all the flights of fancy, and I can only get them in a thoughtless way. So I allow myself that. Which means that my next step has to be all about problem-solving. My attitude cannot be, Gee, I wrote it, it’s good. I’d never get anywhere. It’s all about seeing what’s wrong from a very analytical place. It’s a dialectic. Once I have a draft I make the plans, edit on hard copy, and make an extensive outline for the revision. The revision notes I wrote for “Look at Me” were 80 pages long. This essay appears in the book: Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and WhyThey Do What They Do. For more on one of Brooklyn's finest, check out this 2011 : The desire to become a writer struck suddenly and without warning when she was a teenage backpacker in the early 1980s, traipsing across Europe, lonely and depressed, missing her family. This was the era of queuing for the public phone box: "There was a kind of intensity to the isolation of travel at that time that's completely gone now. You had to wait in line at a phone place, and then there weren't even answering machines. That feeling of waiting in line, paying for the phone and then not only having no one answer, but not being able to leave a message so that they would never know you called. It's hard to fathom what that disconnection felt like. But I'm actually very grateful for it. Because it was extreme. And that kind of extreme isolation showed me that I wanted to be a writer." Why? "I wish I knew the answer. I don't know. I think there was a kind of clarity to being reduced to myself in this extreme way. I was also really scared. I kept having what I think we would now call panic attacks. This would've been the summer of 1981 and I just thought I was flipping out. Somehow in that extreme state, I wrote constantly; harrowing journal pages where I'm narrating my own panic. 'I don't understand why I can't make it stop' – trying to understand what I was scared of." She smiles. "And I suppose the essentialness of writing for me was revealed in that experience." Egan eventually got hold of her mother on the phone, who told her to come home to California, which she did. [Photo Credit: Tim Knox]
Related Posts
Don’t Nod released one of its more experimental games with Jusant last year, and though it wasn’t one of the year’s bigger releases, upon its launch last October, it was received by strong, positive reviews and impressions from the vast majority of those who played it. It did, of course, release as a digital-only game at the time, though that will soon be cFruit Slot Gameshanging.
Don’t Nod has announced that it is partnering with Pix’n Love, who will be releasing a physical version of the acclaimed puzzle-platformer later this year. Arriving this October, it will come with reversible cover art, though it will only be releasing for PS5. There’s no word on if a be…
The PlayStation 5 Pro is finally official and the talk of the town, though not for the best reasons. The $700 console launches in November sans a vertical stand and disc drive. Based on retail site sales, most users may prefer the horizontal orientation because the standalone PS5 disc drive is selling pretty well.
Wario 64 on Twitter noted that the disc drive was ranked eighth on the Best Sellers list for Amazon US while being sold out on Best Buy. It’s since dropped to 16th place on the former and remains unavailable through the latter. The disc drive retails for $79.99 and launched alongside the new PS5 Slim model sports bettingin November 2023.
The PS5 Pro is available on November 7th. It inclu…
The agent of Real Madrid playmaker Esteban Granero says the 24-year-old could leave the club, with Liverpool showing interest.
Granero rejoined Real Madrid in 2009 after a two-year spell at city-rivals Getafe, but has struggled to force his way into Jose Mourinho s first-team plans since the Portuguese coach joined the Spanish giants in 2010.
Teo Lazaro, the player s representative, said the Spaniard could move away from Real should more playing time not be forthcoming.
He s finding his chances limited at Real, Lazaro told The International Business Times. If he can t play at Madrid, then he ll play somewhere else. It s as simple as that.
He s keen for a move away possibly to Liverpool.
Granero has made just three league appearances for Real …
While Pocketpair deals with Nintendo and The Pokemon Company seeking an injunction against Palworld, the survival crafting title continues to roll on. After recently launching for PS5, the developer has confirmed its first collaboration – Re-Logic’s Terraria.
It will occur sometime in 2025, though it’s unknown whether Palworld’s creatures and items will appear in Terraria or vice versa. Pocketpair also teased some “very exciting” news about its next update “very soon.” It’s anyone’s guess what these could be, from new systems to additional Pals, so stay Fruit Slot Gamestuned for further updates.
Along with P…
Lyon midfielder Ederson has confirmed speculations linking him with a summer move to Lazio.
The Brazilian midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season and he was recently linked with a move to Olimpico.
The 26-year-old is currently pondering his options and he has now revealed that he has been in contact with the Biancocelesti and several Brazilian clubs.
“I have not yet signed with other clubs. I have contacts with Italian clubs including Lazio, but also with Brazilian clubs,” Ederson Honorato Campos told Radio Monte Carlo.
Nevertheless, the player explains that he is interested in signing a new deal at Gerland.
“My preference is to stay in Europe because I have worked hard to get here. My desire is to continue with Lyon but I am…
Penalty drama sends Germany through / Image via gettyimages.com
Euro 2016 witnessed a mammoth game in the quarter-finals as 2014 World Cup winners Germany locked horns with Euro 2012 finalists Italy in what has been the 34th meeting between two sides.
Germany have never beaten Italy at a major tournament before and tonight’s game was a highly anticipated event which for the most part failed to meet the expectations.
Both managers fielded matching formations tonight with Joachim Loew deciding to rival Antonio Conte with three men in the heart of defence. Benedikt Howedes replaces Julian Draxler, which allowed Loew to start with Howedes, Boateng and Hummels in the back with Jonas Hector and Joshua Kimmich as wing-backs.
Germany manager showed great coura…
Premier League strugglers Liverpool are considering a January bid for Benfica full-back Maxi Pereira, .
With neither Glen Johnson nor Javi Manquillo impressing this season, Brendan Rodgers is set to recruit a new right-sided defender in the winter and the Uruguay international appears to be his primary target.
With Pereira out of contract in the summer and yet to open talks over a new deal, the Reds believe they can sign the player for a nominal fee in January.
The 30-year-old possesses a wealth of international experience, having earned 87 Uruguay caps and featured at the 2010 and 2014 World Cup tournaments.
Pereira has spent last seven years at Benfica having joined from Defensor Sporting, making 190 league appearances and scoring 10 goals.
Th…
Stoke City manager Mark Hughes is adamant that Xherdan Shaqiri will not be sold in January, according to the Daily Star.
The Switzerland international is in fine form for the Potters and netted his third goal of the season, and second in his last three club outings in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to bottom of the table Crystal Palace.
He has two-and-a-half years remaining on his current deal but his manager has warned potential suitors against making an approach.
In total, the twenty-six year old has racked up sixty-seven appearances in all competitions since signing from Inter Milan in the summer of 2015 while his goal at the weekend took him into double figures for the club.
The former Bayern Munich man made his sixty-fourth appearance for his country a…
Verdict: PSG to Win Both Halves
Best Odds:
Bookmaker:
Ligue 1 leaders showed their human nature by suffering successive blows over the past seven days and will be under great pressure to get back to winning ways against strugglers Lille on Saturday afternoon.
Back-to-back defeats to Strasbourg in Ligue 1 and at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League have set the alarm bells ringing in Paris.
Having suffered their first domestic defeat of the season, the French heavyweights have been given another huge blow in Europe’s elite club competition with Bayern Munich getting their revenge for a 3-0 September beating in Munich. The most recent 3-1 loss to Bavarian giants saw PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi urge Ligue 1 leaders to ‘wake …
Best Odds: 4/9
Bookmaker:
Looking to extend on their stellar purple patch this weekend, Boca Juniors will travel to the Estadio Libertadores de America on Saturday night when they meet Independiente.
Independiente
Starting with the hosts, while Independiente might have claimed a crucial boost earlier in the month as they snatched a 1-0 win away at Central Cordoba, it appears that might have just been a minor positive for Ricardo Zielinski’s inconsistent squad. Immediately crashing back down to earth last time out as they were hit with a 1-0 loss at the hands of Atletico Tucuman, El Rojo almost find themselves sat in Primera Division limbo in 2023. Recording just a single victory from their last four domestic appearances, the Buenos Aires-based outfit have gai…