The hardest thing in the world for a writer is to amass a readership. So many good books come out, and so many good books disappear.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I try very hard to write the best book I possibly can, every time.
In fact, I think for a lot of writers, it's so hard to be read.
Nothing good gets written without the writer suffering along the way, in my opinion. Writing should be a pleasure, but unless you feel almost broken many, many times in the journey to a novel, you haven't pushed yourself hard enough.
That is sad until one recalls how many bad books the world may yet be spared because of the busyness of writers.
Writing a book is a very lonely business. You are totally cut off from the rest of the world, submerged in your obsessions and memories.
I'm a successful novelist, and I've been a lucky one, so I don't want to cry the poor mouth. Writing has never been easy.
When a book goes well, it abandons me. I am the most abandoned writer in the world.
It's never really easy to be successful as a writer when you're trying to write literary fiction. You've already limited your readership limited by that choice.
The best thing about being a writer is it gives you readers who understand your deepest feelings and fears.
My grief is that the publishing world, the book writing world is an extraordinary shoddy, dirty, dingy world.