Anecdote

Jan. 24th, 2005 11:37 am
pjthompson: (Default)
[personal profile] pjthompson
I'm not sure what this anecdote proves, if anything, but it's interesting.

A friend went to see a talk by Marilynne Robinson, who's novel Gilead is currently #10 on the LA Times bestseller list. She published her first novel, Housekeeping, 23 years ago. Then she kind of dropped off the writing planet. She wrote 71 pages of Gilead in longhand in her spiral notebook, then typed them up and emailed her agent to let her know she was still around and still writing. She asked the agent not to show the pages to anyone, but the agent sent them to an editor at Farrar Straus Giroux who said they were "from God." So Ms. Robinson wrote the remainder of the book in installments and only 5 months later, it was published.

Like I said, not sure what that proves.

Date: 2005-01-24 03:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sartorias.livejournal.com
That she's brillianht?

Housekeepeing is a deeply strange book. Very well written. But strange.

Date: 2005-01-24 08:31 pm (UTC)
ext_7025: (Default)
From: [identity profile] buymeaclue.livejournal.com
Deeply strange is a great description of Housekeeping. It's lovely and I'm glad I read it for class, because I wouldn't have, on my own. I read it walking around campus, not sitting, and in chunks--only as much as my brain could hold at once.

Must get hands on this Gilead!

Date: 2005-01-25 12:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] frigg.livejournal.com
It certainly hits home the fact that I am an abysmally slow writer, not to mention anything about the quality of my work. I guess some people are just gifted AND really hard working.

Date: 2005-01-26 07:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] frigg.livejournal.com
Haha...now why didn't I think of that?

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