Richard Ford
Richard Ford
Richard Fordis an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land and Let Me Be Frank with You, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth16 February 1944
CityJackson, MS
CountryUnited States of America
failing worthwhile asks
The thing about being a writer is that you never have to ask, 'Am I doing something that's worthwhile?' Because even if you fail at it, you know that it's worth doing.
art loss past
The art of living your life has a lot to do with getting over loss. The less the past haunts you, the better.
pace pace-of-life dangerous
The pace of life feels morally dangerous to me.
guy kind
I'm kind of a distractible guy.
character people want
I'm not one of those people who as a writer lets my characters tell me what they want to do or call to me or seek me. I go seeking for things, using them as an agent, really.
opportunity play guilty
I'm an equal opportunity reader - although I don't much read plays. And since I was raised a Presbyterian, pretty much all pleasures are guilty.
writing thinking order
In order to write novels for a living - it's not pathological, but I do think and worry and brood and fidget about stuff that I'm working on.
firsts maps serials
Maybe I'm a serial regional writer. First here, then there, across the map.
morning reading writing
When I write a novel I start each morning by reading for 20 minutes.
father arms exploding
My father died in my arms. That's tumult. That's everything exploding.
jobs people empathy
My job is to have empathy and curiosity for things that I've never done. Also, I'm a person whom people talk to.
extinction sometimes feels
Only sometimes you can't feel anything about a subject without hypothesizing its extinction.
reading feelings literature
I grew up in Mississippi being told it was a great place, but not feeling that. When I finally began reading seriously, literature showed me something about where I was from which was worthwhile.
writing years take-me
I didn't feel up to writing about 9/11. If I were to write about it, it would take me years.