Writers & Lovers

‘So,' he says....'How's the novel?'‘It's all right.' The bees in my chest stir....One conversation can destroy my whole morning....‘You know,' he says, pushing himself off his car, waiting for my full attention. ‘I just find it extraordinary that you think you have something to say.'

Whew. The life of a wanna-be writer is not exactly what you may be imagining. Lily King tells it like-it-is in this story of Casey Peabody, a woman in her early 30s, working to complete her first novel after six long years of work. Casey is deeply in debt from college, her boyfriend has broken up with her, she is working a difficult job as a waitress, and her mother has just died.

Despite all the troubles of her life, Casey is a wise narrator, finding humor in the situations in which she finds herself, and sharing life-truths she has discovered, especially those about writing. Here is Casey, delivering a speech about writing to an audience of young people:

‘All problems with writing and performing come from fear. Fear of exposure, fear of weakness, fear of lack of talent, fear of looking like a fool for trying, for even thinking you could write in the first place. It's all fear....(O)ur biggest fear is public speaking. What I am doing right now. And when people are asked to identify which kind of public speaking they are most afraid of, they check the improvisation box. So improvisation is the number-one fear in America. Forget a nuclear winter or an eight point nine earthquake or another Hitler. It's improv. Which is funny, because aren't we just improvising all day long? Isn't our whole life just one long improvisation? What are we so scared of?'All the things I love in reading fiction are in this book.