The Writing Life by Ellen Gilchrist

Author:Ellen Gilchrist
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2005-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

But it isn’t selfishness alone that makes me not want to talk about my work. It’s a kind of shyness, something I don’t really understand. My work is my refuge, my hideout. Occasionally I like to talk about it but mostly I don’t. Now, for some reason, I am becoming more open. A reporter described me recently as “an extroverted recluse.” I felt the description was apt. When I am working I am as disciplined and closed-up as a nun on a retreat. When I am finished for the day I like to dress up and go downtown and see what’s going on but I don’t go to my friends. I go to the mall and walk around and look at strangers or wander into toy stores and buy presents for my young grandchildren or go by the cosmetic counter and ask the Chanel representative about the new antiwrinkle compounds. I want to completely leave myself when I reenter the world and my friends would ask me questions about where I’ve been.

I don’t want to answer questions about the strange, quiet place where I dream and write. “What are you writing now?” is a terrible question to me. I don’t want to talk about it while I’m doing it. That’s the end of that.

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