Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Author Gay Talese on s-l-o-w writing!

excerpt from a Paris Review interview, posted at Utne.com 7-14-09:

PARIS REVIEW: You never write directly onto the computer?

GAY TALESE: Oh no, I couldn’t do that. I want to be forced to work slowly because I don’t want to get too much on paper. By the end of the morning I might have a page, which I will pin up above my desk.

PR: Surely there must be some days in the middle of a project, when you’re really going, that you write more than a single page.

GT: No, there aren’t.

* * *

There you have it. One page a day, and yet, looked what HE accomplished:

* A Writer's Life (2006)
* Origins of a Nonfiction Writer (1996)
* Unto the Sons (1992)
* Thy Neighbor's Wife (1981)
* Honor Thy Father (1971)
* Fame and Obscurity (1970)
* The Kingdom and the Power (1969)
* The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (1964)

So the question is, what could WE accomplish with one page of prose per day?

Let me hear from you as you release your writing.

Helen

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bonjour, Sebast Here, I am exciting reading this get-up I could definitely get involved here.

Anonymous said...

This is half entertaining. But then again I'm extremely high right now