Julia Glass
Julia Glass
Julia Glassis an American novelist. Her debut novel, Three Junes, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2002...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth23 March 1956
CountryUnited States of America
ages arrive later milestones novel others plan proud published quite saw sons though
Though I didn't quite plan it that way, I had my two sons at just about the same ages my mother saw me and my sister off to college, and my first novel was published when I was 46. This 'tardiness' isn't something I'm proud of, but I'm happy to be an inspiration to others who arrive at these milestones later than most of us do.
arrive business cash closing dreams hymn obstacles singing son spinning stories time twists walking
In my head, at least, the business of spinning stories has no closing time. Twists in my characters' lives, glimpses of their secrets, obstacles to their dreams... all arrive unbidden when I'm getting cash at the ATM, walking my son to camp, singing a hymn at a wedding.
bookstores depends somewhat
Somewhat sadly, the survival of many bookstores now depends on selling merchandise other than books.
Sometimes the writing leads to the revelations, not the other way around.
art fluent foreign native
Visual art is a foreign language I'm fluent at, but my native language is language.
Virginia Woolf was wrong. You do not need a room of your own to write.
fiction lives nature quite since stuff wonder writers
I wonder if it's in the nature of fiction writers to never quite see their own lives as 'real,' since we are always making stuff up!
answering arise everyday heart inside living love questions simply
I write because I'm in love with language; because I like working for myself, inside my head; and because it's the only way I know to make a stab at answering the never-ending questions of the heart that arise simply from the everyday living of our lives.
pet public ridiculed school teacher
I was ridiculed in public school for being smart. A teacher's pet.
early felt few fiction obviously spent time
Finally, in my early 30s, I started writing fiction for the first time as an adult. That felt so scary, and I spent a few years feeling miserably 'behind' my high-achieving friends. But I persevered and obviously have no regrets.
affecting books pass permanent touch
The books I read, if they intrude on my writing, do so as weather will pass through and touch a landscape - affecting it, yes, but only now and then leaving a permanent mark.
aspect crucial form imagination mental stretching
To me, stretching the capabilities of my imagination is a crucial aspect of writing fiction; you could think of it as a mental form of athleticism.
work
The old adage is, 'Write what you know.' But if you only do that, your work becomes claustrophobic. I say, 'Write what you want to know.'
Though I'm a New Englander, I'm very indoorsy once the mercury drops.