Ann Beattie

It’s not consistent fun like being on a roller coaster, but I can hardly think of anything that pleases me more than writing a sentence that surprises me.

After I finish the third draft or so I show it to Lincoln. I hand him the manuscript and then I sit down in the chair across from him and stare at him while he reads. If he has a look of consternation on his face, I say, “What’s the matter?” And if he laughs, I say, “What’s funny?” Now he’s gotten ­really adept, and he’ll say, “I didn’t tell you I have to go meet so-and-so now.
-Ann Beattie, Paris Review