She guards her privacy, the well from which her work springs. Although grateful for the recognition her awards have brought her, the attendant readings and interviews have worn her out. I will never do another one. The whole process makes writers into stars which may be gratifying for three weeks, but the writer knows he's just a plain, ordinary person whose ability comes from a silent, quiet private time, not in posturing around, leaping about on stage, or managing witty remarks for interviewers. It eats up an immense amount of time.
Writers are generally shy and retiring people.
In a sense it's like someone continually ransacking your personal life. The long sight lines, that long shoot of the eye to a distant horizon for some reason frees thoughts and images for me more than anywhere else. I love northern New England, but the trees get in the way of thinking for me. In a way she is like one of her own headstrong characters, forging ahead and doing things her own way. Proulx, who published her first book Heart Songs when she was in her fifties, does not believe in writing or living to someone else's agenda.