“I read a lot, but at the same time I'm not a particularly good or diligent or discriminating reader. I go through maybe close to a thousand or more books a year, but a lot of times I'll only read bits and pieces of any one individual text.” YearsBookIndividualBitsPiecesReaderThousandDiligentBits And Pieces Author:Dan Chaon
“You can't count on notoriety lasting very long, and there's no way to predict whether anyone will care about your books or you in three years, let alone ten or twenty.” WayYearsLongBookCareThreeTenTwentiesLastingThree YearsNotoriety Author:Dan Chaon
“I started out as a poet who primarily wanted to write about image and moment. Over the years I've been trying to teach myself how to do plot and scene. My first story collection had the most issues with the plotlessness, and when I was writing my second collection I was teaching myself how to make things happen.” WritingTryingYearsFirstsMomentsStoriesHappensWantedTeachIssuesTeachingPoetSceneThings HappenCollectionsPlotMake Things Happen Author:Dan Chaon
“There are so many people we could become, and we leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that it's hard to tell which one is us. How many versions do we abandon over the years?” PeopleYearsHardBodyTwentiesVersionsAbandonTeensTrails Book:Among the Missing Source: Among the Missing
“I never wanted to get to a point in my life where I knew what was going to happen next. I felt like most people just couldn't wait until they found themselves settled down into a routine and they didn't have to think about the next day, or the next year, or the next decade because it was all planned out for them. I can't understand how people can settle for having just one life.” PeopleThinkingYearsI CanHappensWantedNextFoundFeltWaitingDecadesSettlingJust OneRoutineNext DayNext Year Author:Dan Chaon
“For the last few years I've tried to force myself to write at least one page every day, which doesn't sound like much but it's actually pretty hard to manage. Because I'm not allowed to do a make-up day. I can't do two pages the next day. The punishment for not completing my page is that I have to eat a vegetarian meal the next day.” WritingYearsI CanTwoHardLastsNextForceSoundPagesPunishmentManageMealsVegetarianNext DayCompleting Author:Dan Chaon
“I guess I'm curious about how people process grief and how they process loss. And I'm also interested in the ways in which an event can have long-reaching consequences and a life over the course of years.” PeopleWayYearsLongCoursesProcessLossGriefEventsConsequenceCuriousReaching Author:Dan Chaon
