"Since college I started bringing that weird [immigrant] work ethic to writing. The two books I published are the only ones that worked. I've written like three other books, but they were really, really bad. I'm telling you, if any of you guys are wanna-be artists, I'm the perfect encouragement. You can't be fucking worse than me."
That's author Díaz talking about his roller-coaster career at the Google compound. Ten years ago, Díaz wrote a book of award-winning short stories called Drown, and then, after a long, tough time, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his second book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
The New York Times has the whole fancy awards story, but day-dreaming about Pulitzers won't help fledgling writers. I think that Authors@Google clip is a million times more helpful as Diaz spends 50 minutes exploring his career and answering questions.
Around 16 minutes in he talks about writing even when it feels like everything you are writing is bad. Keep that clip near your desktop and read both of Diaz's excellent books. Everybody needs that kind of encouragement sometimes...
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