"You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip
on reality. This latter means: there’s no free lunch. Writing is work. It’s
also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit,
but essentially you’re on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose
it, so don’t whine."
Margaret Atwood
(18 November 1939)
Curious facts about:
Her grade 12 English teacher, Miss Bessie Billings, had this to say
about one of her early poems: "I can't understand a word of this, dear, so
it must be good." Atwood was first published as a poet in 1961 with her collection Double
Persephone. She admitted in a 1990 interview with The Paris Review that some of
her poems led to novels: “I don’t think I solve problems in my poetry; I think
I uncover the problems. Then the novel seems a process of working them out.”
As a child, she found Snow White traumatizing.
She has no particular writing routine, nor does she write every day. She
always begins her writing with a pen or pencil and paper.
She's the inventor of the LongPen, an electronic pen that
lets her sign
books remotely.