“There's a really nice moment in the life of a piece of writing where t...” — George Saunders Quote

There's a really nice moment in the life of a piece of writing where the writer starts to get a feeling of it outgrowing him - or he starts to see it having a life of its own that doesn't have anything to do with his ego or his desire to 'be a good writer.'

So for me the approach has become to go into a story not really sure of what I want to say, try to find some little seed crystal of interest, a sentence or an image or an idea, and as much as possible divest myself of any deep ideas about it. And then by this process of revision, mysteriously it starts to accrete meanings as you go.

Stories, as much as we like to talk about them, retrospectively, as emanations of theme or worldview or intention, occur primarily as technical objects when they're being written. Or at least they do for me. They're the result of thousands of decisions made at speed during revision.

I've had the thought that a person's 'artistic vision' is really just the cumulative combination of whatever particular stances he has sincerely occupied during his creative life - even if some of those might appear contradictory.

Ritesh Deshmukh is rock star. He has a lovely family. He works so hard, and he's a great actor. He's funny, friendly, doesn't have an ego, and is so nice to everyone. He's a fine professional, a good husband, and a good father. That's a rock star for me.

I believe that 'ego' is much overused term.

I don't have much of an ego, but I have a great deal of confidence!

I have no ego, I'll make fun of myself, and I'll make fun of being humiliated. I get it.

Politics, for me, is not a competition to see who's got the bigger ego. It's working together for the good of the people.