Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature

by Meredith Maran

I hate publication. It makes me extremely anxious. I can be at my most fragile for quite a long time, during that long, long period of waiting to see how a book is going to do. It’s an extremely painful part of the process. I get this feeling of grippage in my stomach before a book comes out. The easiest way not to have it is not to publish a lot more. I’m just too old for book tours. I’m sure you could find lots of people, like Margaret Atwood, who are a little older and they thrive on it. I don’t thrive on it. I’m wasted by it. I hate being away from my family and my life—my animals, my church. I hate flying. The airports have become a god-awful mess. To think about not doing that is wonderful. I’ve published four books in four years. I feel kind of tired of being out in the public all the time. So right now I’m not positive I need to keep publishing books. Or maybe it’s just been too much, and I need a few years off.