The description of a particular kind of writer’s block in this chapter: “floating in his mind five or six possible subjects for a book.” The ideas always look promising from afar, like fish swimming around so abundantly until they are caught by the net and become bubbles.
Reardon’s writing schedule: astonishingly (and inevitably) there is no time built in for reading. Rather like a nursing mother who doesn’t have time to eat or drink.
“There ought to be a huge public crèche”—an image of a daycare from Wikipedia, dated 1898. It’s a black hole to go into research about early childcare history.
Join us on December 13 for a virtual discussion of New Grub Street with Yiyun Li.
And those bubbles percolate at night and pop if I wait until morning!
'Edwin, if you find you are unable to do good work, you mustn't do bad. We must think of some other way of making a living.'
Essential advice from a wife to her husband.