I identify as an agent when I'm agenting, and I identify as an author when I'm writing. I expect both those things to be true for as long as I'm able to do them. Bill Clegg agentagentingauthor Change image and share on social
I don't think of literary novels as self-help documents, although literature undoubtedly saved my life when I was young, enabling me to disappear into all manner of stories, to recognise feelings that I felt alone in. Bill Clegg disappeardocumentenable share on social
My experience of fiction was, in the beginning, so exploratory. I wasn't sitting down to a desk at Yaddo with a month, thinking I have to have a draft of a novel. Bill Clegg begindeskdraft Change image and share on social
When I write, I tend to read it out loud to myself after. I'm a very uncomfortable reader, so it creates a distance between the text and me - it is a new way to see it. Bill Clegg createdistanceloud Change image and share on social
If you feel like you don't have a choice to write it, write it. If you feel like you do have a choice, then move on, because there are so many books in the world. Bill Clegg bookchoicefeel Change image and share on social
Left to my own devices, I'd probably Google myself all day. Bill Clegg daydevicegoogle Change image and share on social
Public speaking, for me, or speaking even in front of a handful of people is my greatest fear. Bill Clegg fearfrontgreat Change image and share on social
Recovery is an ongoing project that is really discrete from everything else in my life. It allows me to be an agent, allows me to write, allows me to be married, allows me to be part of a family. The writing is not a support beam of recovery but a happy consequence of it. Bill Clegg agentbeamconsequence share on social
I work very hard every day not to have a lot of expectations. You just let go of the results, because a book will be on bookshelves and in libraries long after we're gone, and, in some ways, whatever happens is none of our business. Bill Clegg bookbookshelfbusiness share on social
I think growing up in such a small town - before cell phones, before the Internet, before Facebook, before we had access to people's interiors - there was a great deal of space between people's lives. I spent a lot of time imagining into the lives of the people I grew up with. Bill Clegg accesscelldeal share on social