Saturday, July 5, 2008

Author, author / Anne Enright / Final thoughts

Anne Enright

AUTHOR, AUTHOR

Final thoughts
by Anne Enright

SATURDAY 5 JULY 2008

I
t doesn't matter what you think about your work. This is one of the weirdest lessons a writer has to learn, that the emotions that push you to write better, with greater accuracy, truth, verve, wit; the despair that makes you cast your eyes to the ceiling and then plunge back to the keyboard; the running pleasure of one good word being followed by a better; the glee as you set a time bomb ticking in the text; the glorious megalomania with which you set out to describe and yes! conquer! the! world! ... are all completely redundant once the piece is finished.