Thursday, January 21, 2010

Instead of waiting, there is writing.

The truth is, I don’t believe all that much in writing. Starting with my own. Being a writer is pleasant—no, pleasant isn’t the word—it’s an activity that has its share of amusing moments, but I know of other things that are even more amusing, amusing in the same way that literature is for me. Holding up banks, for example. Or directing movies. Or being a gigolo. Or being a child again and playing on a more or less apocalyptic soccer team. Unfortunately, the child grows up, the bank robber is killed, the director runs out of money, the gigolo gets sick and then there’s no other choice but to write. For me, the word writing is the exact opposite of the word waiting. Instead of waiting, there is writing. Well, I’m probably wrong—it’s possible that writing is another form of waiting, of delaying things. I’d like to think otherwise.
Roberto Bolaño, Chilean-born writer ['The Savage Detectives'] in an interview in Bomb Magazine with Carmen Boullosa.

4 comments:

Fifi Colston said...

ah so thats my problem- I'm so impatient; I'd write so much faster if I knew someone was waiting for it.
Other than me that is...

Rachel Fenton said...

Waiting paper....I should recycle more...

Pen said...

Great post. I had a good chuckle.

Writing is what we do while we wait to be published. Without the writing we find we wait in vain...

Hmmm, maybe I should stop reading blogs and do more writing.

Elisabeth said...

I love the notion of writing as akin to waiting. there is indeed a great deal of waiting in the business of writing and it is also an excellent way to deal with the agony of waiting.

I'm new to your blog, Mary via Gondal Girl. Needless to say, I'm interested in writing and I look forward to reading more of yours.