Three Big Questions
Hi friends.
Before I get into it I need to mention I woke up to a meaty and thoughtful review in the NYTBR of my new novel, A Reason to See You Again. I know I said I wasn’t going to read my reviews but I had to read this one. I am delighted and relieved. Also can I say it’s just so well-written? A really nice kick-off to pub week. As they say, let’s fucking go.
OK so a month ago I posted this:
I don’t know why I thought this would be an interesting experiment, it was just something my gut told me to do. After I posted this, I got lots of requests to participate, but I knew already it was going to be a lot of work, answering three new questions over and over again. I just sort of randomly picked people along the way that seemed smart and curious and hoped for the best. (I wish I could have said yes to everyone but hopefully someday we can connect in the future.) I was also a little worried that I would end up getting some of the same questions. But still, I trusted that it would be worth it no matter what.
And guess what—it was a lot of work! But also, it was fun and challenging to my brain in a new way. Yes, sometimes I got questions along the same theme, but there was always a fresh take on it. Most of them were pretty different though. And it was so cool to meet all these new people. These letters all look great and are well-written and enthusiastic and interesting. I learned so much about the community in general out there. I’m not quite sure how it’s going to inform my work in the future, but I feel certain it will find its way in. I really loved the experience.
Love this artwork from Kelcey Ervick’s letter!
I want to say a big thank you to everyone who participated: I appreciate you and your time and I am proud of you for putting yourself out there creatively. And I encourage everyone reading this to click around and see if you can find a new person to follow today.
Here are the letters in the order I received them:
Susannah Felts/Fieldtrip asked me about the role selfishness plays in my creative life.
Haili Blassingame/Touch Her & Die asked me about I managed to quit my day job in order to write full time.
Adam Ming/Ten Minute Artist asked me about how writing sessions now compete with writing sessions at the beginning of my career.
Felicia Sabartinelli/Ferocious asked me about how much of my writing is influenced by my own experience.
Katrin Schumann/Anatomy of a Novel asked me about the hardest part of writing a first draft.
Alicia Sekhri/The Story Clinic asked me about how to stay motivated during a draft.
Zamira Rahim/Offcuts asked me about pivotal moments in my career.
Elizabeth Marro/Spark asked me about reading my work in public.
Kayla Cagan/The Comma asked me about my love of poetry.
Barb Natividad/Comedy, Tragedy asked me about my literary influences.
Lauren Powell/The Navigation asked me about what it means “to be a writer” today.
Tami Carey/Outsourced Optimism asked me if being a published author was everything I thought it would be.
Ximena Vengochea/Letters from Ximena asked me about how to incorporate rest or taking breaks into my process.
Lisa Hartman/The Long Middle asked me about how aging has changed or informed my creative life.
Mary Carroll Moore/Your Weekly Writing Exercise asked me about the finer points of my writing day and process.
Kate Seward/I Had No Idea This Would Happen asked about finding the courage to tackle difficult subjects.
Bronwen Wyatt/Bayou Saint News (who I know from around town and her delicious cakes!) asked about everything related to writing about food in fiction.
Kells McPhillips/LifeLives asked me about growing my platform while remaining authentic.
Kelcey Ervick/The Habit of Art asked me about what I had to learn about myself to develop successful creative habits.
And here’s some longer interviews that had already been requested:
Sari Botton/Oldster asked me many questions about getting older (but hopefully not old).
Rachel Schwartzmann/Slow Stories asked me to tell her a bunch of stories.
I love my community so much. Thank you, as always, for being here with me.
See you on Tuesday!
Jami
You are reading Craft Talk, the home of #1000wordsofsummer and also a weekly newsletter about writing from Jami Attenberg. I’m also on twitter and instagram.
I think its so cool you offered to give so generously of your time to all of these other Substacks! I love the thoughtful range of questions listed and look forward to poking around for the answers and undoubtedly finding some wonderful newsletters to subscribe to along the way. How fabulous!
Loved reading this, it's very much where I'm at right now with work and writing: "I was definitely not an overnight success story, and it took me six or seven years of hustling, doing any freelance copywriting gig I could find, for example, while I would write my books on the side. It was challenging. But I really wanted it.
I'll add it was strange to be in corporate America with no ambitions within my 9-5 existence, and sometimes I wondered what was wrong with me. Because I did not feel like a lazy person and in fact I would prefer to be working than not. But it was just that I was not at the correct job for me. And I just needed to write my way toward the right one."