Writing toward the end

John Irving, author of such books as Cider House Rules and The World According to Garp, talks about the process of writing in an interview with the NYT. I’m not that fond of his books but I respect his work. Does that make sense? His willingness to admit the time it takes from the moment he discovers the final sentence of a project and from there the years of effort that bring it to completion – it’s an encouraging reminder that creative work often takes far more time than our culture allows. In fact, slowness, incremental growth, anything that plods along is pretty counter cultural – whether it’s writing, painting, eating, or loving.