I write because I can't not
Susan Edsall
About
Writing is how I make my way through the thicket of what we’ve made of this planet we’re on. It takes me a long time and lots of words. Social media mystifies me. How do so many people have so much to say, so quickly, and with such resolute certainty?
Books
I heard an interview with a writer who said that if you can’t write in a noisy cafe you’re not a real writer. Nonsense. I prefer the advice Cheryl Strayed gave to a woman struggling to find her voice and write her story: Write like a motherfucker. That’s what I do. Every day. In the early morning quiet of my office.
Reads
“You are the most culturally illiterate person I have ever met,” a friend once told me. Insult? Compliment? Not sure. “What do you do every night after work?” he persisted.
“I read,” I said. I didn't tell him I also scribble, and draw, and hear voices and write down what they say.
"Good writing never soothes or comforts. It is no prescription, neither is it diversionary, although it can and should enchant while it explodes in the reader’s face."