Activity

Given that I can’t, and that I’m too lazy to research the Turkish War, Fonk’s trial, and Goethe, I’ll look for subjects and characters closer to home. This might be a good start: “I was born in the early 1950s, a terrible period for the people of Spain, but a glorious time for cinema and fashion.”

I think this is a weakness I’ve overcome, or at least gotten firmly under control. The one piece of advice I’d give to all mediocre—and not so mediocre—writers, and one I impose on myself, is an exercise in self-criticism. Self-criticism gives you something of inestimable value: calmness, knowing h…

I like writers who talk about the act of writing and constantly quote from other authors. Slimani’s book is full of reflections about writing. “I don’t think writers write to gain relief,” she says. I agree. “A writer has an unhealthy attachment to their sufferings, their nightmares. Nothing would …

“To write, you must refuse yourself to others; refuse them your presence, your love. You must disappoint your friends and your children. For me, this discipline is a source of satisfaction, even happiness, and at the same time, the cause of my melancholy,” Slimani says in her book. I don’t agree, o…

I shake off my boredom, get dressed, and go out into the street. Madrid is empty, except for the pavement opposite where I live and walk, the Paseo de Pintor Rosales, where there are a lot of people lounging on café terraces or strolling around, families with children. On a bench I see a Latin Amer…