Junot Diaz on being a writer

There’s a first time for everything, so, we’re linking to O Magazine:

That’s my tale in a nutshell. Not the tale of how I came to write my novel but rather of how I became a writer. Because, in truth, I didn’t become a writer the first time I put pen to paper or when I finished my first book (easy) or my second one (hard). You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway. Wasn’t until that night when I was faced with all those lousy pages that I realized, really realized, what it was exactly that I am.

That’s Junot Diaz, summing up the happy ending to his 10 years writing The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The last sentence seems to sum up a generally good reasoning for picking any profession. Read the rest of the brief article, here.

The People Have Spoken

And, Meanderings was right, not to toot our own horn. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao really was the best book of the decade, experts bedamned.

Coming in at No. 11

The Millions is counting down the 20 best books of the century (“so far,” as they add). They’re only halfway through, and I’m curious what the top 10 will look like, because my favorite book came it at No. 11.

It’s not easy to explain why I liked Oscar Wao so much. But one reason is the ability to weave lines like this:

Instead of finding himself in nerd heaven- where every nerd gets fifty-eight virgins to role-play with- he woke up in Robert Wood Johnson with two broken legs and a separated shoulder, feeling like, well, he’d jumped off the New Brunswick train bridge.

And this:

Dude, you don’t want to be dead. Take it from me. No-pussy is bad. But dead is like no-pussy times ten.

And, finally, this:

Nothing else has any efficacy, I might as well be myself.
But your yourself sucks!
It is lamentably all I have.

Into something that actually made sense. Go read it – it’s got a money-back satisfaction guarantee from me.

Oh, and let me know what book’s been better than this.

Update: The people side with Meanderings.