Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A Writer's Words: Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley, author of Private Life, her most recent book and 13th novel, which she calls "a short book covering a long life-span," writes 1-2 hours each day and aims for 1200 words.


In a recent author reading sponsored by my MFA program at USF, Smiley told us, "Our writing is never as good or as bad as we think." She urged us to do it anyway and come back to it later with some distance.

"The reader in you, who is much more sophisticated than the writer in you, will know what to do," she said.

3 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

Now, that's a smart lady, with a smart quote. Thanks for sharing, N.

venus said...

I feel a sense of relief in my gut when I read that Jane Smiley aims for 1200 words in 1-2 hours a day. That's a reasonable goal. Thanks for your blog Nicole, it's interesting and helpful to those of out here writing.

Nicole R. Zimmerman said...

Thanks for your comments. It pleases me immensely to know my blog is helpful to other writers!

This afternoon I am struggling so hard over a 6-8 page critical paper for my MFA... everything in me resists it, but it must be done by deadline. I look forward to summer when I don't keep regular workday hours and can aim for a daily word count instead of cram it all in over the weekend.

Keep on keeping on, fellow scribes!

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