Why We Write (Garrison Keillor in Salon)

Rohit Khare (rohit@fdr.ICS.uci.edu)
Thu, 04 Jun 1998 16:08:08 -0700


["VOIDposts: common as dirt, but more expensive" --RK]

Dear Mr. Blue,

I hope you do not take this question the wrong
way, but
why did you become a writer yourself?

Curious

Dear Curious,

Mr. Blue became a writer when he was 14 years
old in order to
express deep inexpressible feelings that he
later learned were
common as dirt, part of what is called
adolescence, but by the
time he discovered that he had nothing original
to say
whatsoever, he was enjoying the act of writing
so much, he
couldn't bear to stop, and he has continued ever
since, through
periods of staleness and dullardry and
mufflement, enduring
tepid reviews ("a workmanlike book that
certainly will be of
interest to those who are interested in this
sort of thing") and the
disinterest of awards committees and the misery
of book tours