Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann

Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann

Author:Colum McCann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2017-04-03T16:00:00+00:00


The whole idea that people have a clue as to how the world works, is just a piece of laughable metaphysical colonialism perpetrated upon the wild country of time.

—LORRIE MOORE

How old is the young writer? Seventeen, sixty, forty-six—who cares? The youngest of young writers always wants that book out before they’re eighteen or at the very latest twenty-five. It’s a noble ambition and not one to be scuppered, but if you don’t make it, don’t fret. Thirty is okay. Fifty’s not bad. Sixty-four years old is as good a time as any to start: just think of Frank McCourt. And nine years old is not bad either.

Never forget that the young writer cannot stop time. (Only in writing can we ever stop time.) Just because they’re younger than you doesn’t mean they will last. It’s okay to put pressure on yourself—that’s where your competition with yourself lies. But it’s not okay to whine about it. It’s not okay to start thinking that you’re too old or that your time has gone. You can’t give up on it. There is nothing worse than a talented writer who regrets his life, and especially one who allows that regret to knock him into silence. You can still pick up the pen long after everyone thinks that you’ve given up. That’s the beauty of it all. You’re an athlete of a different type. Your mind doesn’t have to retire. So, get back to it. Resurrect it. Unfail it. Rise an hour earlier in the morning and get the work done, even secretly.

It’s okay to get upset that someone else younger than you just got published. Go to the bookstore, pick up a copy, stare at their flap jacket. Dissect their bio. Whisper a very quiet curse of admiration: Damn, she’s young. Then say: So what? Go home and write with a renewed fever.

And herein lies another piece of advice for a writer who might think that time has passed her by: Don’t tell too many people that you’re working on a book. Don’t give them the chance to ask you if you’ve finished yet. Don’t let them torture you at parties. There’s almost nothing worse than the question, How’s that book of yours coming along? (It’s second to hearing that someone else has actually finished a book.) Most people don’t know how long it actually takes for a book to get written. Just say it’s on its way—even if it’s not exactly on its way.

Keep working, keep shaping. Eventually it will happen. Maybe even sooner than you think.



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