Fred Waitzkin's Blog, page 2

Why did it take ten years to write my novel?

Ten years sounds like a lot of time but it didn't feel that way to me. I was working on a story that took over my life

'Why It Took 10 Years To Write My Novel'

Ten years sounds like a lot of time but it didn't feel that way to me. I was working on a story that took over my life

Friendship, Murder and Writing

Louis and I had a long history of sharing true stories and he'd given this one to me as a rare gift -- that was my impression. Without saying the words, we both understood that I would never write about it while my friend was alive, and I didn't.

What Is True?

Here is a dialogue that came out of my kitchen during a family meal. I was recalling an event that had occurred recently in a coffee shop I frequent. I was into the pace and pathos of my anecdote, the sadness of a stranger I had lingered to talk to, when my plucky 26-year-old daughter remarked, "Dad, you made up that dialogue. The woman never said that!" Everyone laughed. I argued that she was wrong. Wrong! I became a little angry. I knew what the woman said, after all. I was there and I coul...

How I Became a Writer

Even when my mother was an old lady we fought like dogs. I recall a few times screaming at one another in restaurants. It was embarrassing. Stella knew how to tear me open. We argued about my wife, my children. Sometimes the subject was my writing. If a story or essay of mine appeared in The New York Times Magazine, she might say it was OK, but her pained expression told another story; she didn't consider it the best work that I could do. Then after a pregnant pause she'd lecture that a true...