Christy English

Starting Out in the Evening by Brian Morton

Monday, March 22nd, 2010 | Reviews, The Writing Life

This wonderfully complex novel asks a lot of questions, but the one that concerns me here is: how important is success in a writer’s life? In the novel, we see an old man at the end of his life and his career, who still rises at the same time every morning, dons a jacket and tie, then sits and writes for his proscribed six hours a day on a novel that may never be seen by a reader. Two of his four published novels are now out of print, and none of his books ever garnered him acclaim or fanfare. And yet, every day, he rises and gets back to work.

This wonderful novel has also been made into a film starring Frank Langella.  I love the movie, which finds its own poetry, but the novel is truly stunning. I first read it during months before I had a contract with NAL, at a time when I had been writing for almost ten years and was not sure whether or not my own work would ever see the light of day. As I read STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, I asked myself the same questions that Leonard Schiller asks: Why do I write? Will I ever stop? Even without success as the outer world sees it, is it worth it?

I am grateful for THE QUEEN’S PAWN  and am excited that people will be able to read my work in a couple of weeks. I am grateful that TO BE QUEEN will be released next year, and I hope that it will find readers.  But the question: Is writing worth it, whether anyone ever reads or appreciates your work or not? is still a question every writer must ask herself. For me, the answer is yes.

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