A writer of a certain age: Sue Miller talks about living a life that makes great books possible

Great interview with author Sue Miller on Boston University Today today, talking about her books and nudging folks out to her appearance at Metcalf Hall tonight. One thought that should encourage those of you who are out there reading, writing, and waiting. And waiting. And waiting for that breakthrough:
Looking back, did beginning your writing career at 35 make you a more perceptive, confident writer? Could you have written The Good Mother at 25?
I certainly think I knew more about life and about writing when I was 35 than when I was 25—which was when I wrote my first, unpublished and unpublishable, novel. And I think I knew even more about both at 40, when I started writing The Good Mother, than I did at 35, when I wrote a second, not-so-bad-but-not-so-good novel. So while my career might have begun, in some sense, with the writing of The Good Mother, my apprenticeship began much earlier, and it was the combination of that apprenticeship with just having been alive longer that made The Good Mother possible.
Read the rest here.

Comments

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