We began by trying to get all original work. We have come to getting a lot of original work and some that is not. When you are getting work that was not just written for the book, then you edit it in terms of how it works for the book. For example, when we were doing the Justice book, the first person that came to mind was John Edgar Wideman, who has a son in prison for life, for murder, and a brother who is also in prison. And who has dedicated a lot of his own thinking and life as an adult writer to justice in America, and he wrote a knock-out piece because the subject was one very close to his heart.
Some writers fantasize about when their books are turned into the big Hollywood movie.
A Will of Their Own . I watched it. It was an interesting experience for me. I was able at that point to have a completely cavalier attitude about the fact that it was trashy. It was a very mixed feeling, but the reason I was cavalier about it was that my daughter was getting married and I had not a penny when she announced her engagement, and this was a case of taking the money and running.