Steve Almond

“This is going to sound pretty awful, but I’m inspired by humiliation. My own, mostly, but also what I see in the world at large.
Jump to navigation Skip to content
In this online exclusive we ask authors to share books, art, music, writing prompts, films—anything and everything—that has inspired them in their writing. We see this as a place for writers to turn to for ideas that will help feed their creative process.
“This is going to sound pretty awful, but I’m inspired by humiliation. My own, mostly, but also what I see in the world at large.
“I am currently surrounded by diapers, squeaky toys, and crayons scattered at my feet. This is the life of a working writer/mother.
“Inspiration? A sleepless night helps, when my mind has nothing to do but wander.
“I’d like to recommend the great and criminally undersung novelist Wright Morris.
“I’m obsessed with windows. How they organize the world by cutting away most of it. Then let some in.
“A writer far more experienced than I once said to me something like, ‘You’ve got to bushwhack past the first million or so rotten words to get at the good stuff.’
“For me, the best novels have a never-ending quality. Nothing is tied up neatly by the last page.
“Looking back and reflecting on my life, I realize how accident prone I have been in these eighty years.
“Merrill Garbus, who performs under the moniker tUnE-YArDs, recorded her first album using a handheld voice recorder and distributed it on recycled cassette tape.