Quote

realized that at a level I'd never been conscious we'd been engaged in a game of wits for years. I suppose most writer-subject pairings are like that. Of course, I'd set aside my plan to write about him [Clark Rockfeller] as soon as I'd gotten to know him some, but now I'd resumed that intention.

Walter Kirn

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Walter Kirn
Age: 62
Born: 1962
Born: August 3
Novelist
Writer
Akron
Ohio
Like
Game
Plan
Wit
Courses
Soon
Aside
Course
Conscious
Gotten
Games
Subjects
Engaged
Write
Plans
Suppose
Writing
Level
Intention
Resumed
Years
Writer
Realized
Clark
Never
Levels
Subject
Wits

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At the beginning of a novel, a writer needs confidence, but after that what's required is persistence. These traits sound similar. They aren't. Confidence is what politicians, seducers and currency speculators have, but persistence is a quality found in termites. It's the blind drive to keep on working that persists after confidence breaks down.
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I preferred that my bad dreams be vague.
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The strange anthropological lesson of social media is that human beings, if given a choice, often prefer to socialise alone.
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