said the other day to a questionnaire sent to me by Peter Domene critic and writer for the magazine Cuadernos del Sur . The first question was, more or less, how I learned in these years I've been writing. Long replied, laconically, as literary and personal. Interview hang here when published, but now that I'm finishing a new novel, and that ten years ago, right around this time, was rolled up to the elbows writing The key Pinner, it is true that I asked myself more than one time if I learned anything during this time. The fact is that sometimes when they contact me writers who have published or are about to do and ask me for advice to tackle a novel, publish, whether it is worthwhile contests. Things like that. Some people want to know my views on these matters never will only produce confusion. Maybe it is that I'm getting old ... But I guess it is worth putting here what I think about a few things that have to do with the work of writer, more or less. 
goes without saying that not advice. Those who know me know I am not given to giving. Think aloud. Simply. Nobody is forced to read them. Some things I knew or guessed when I started writing. I have been discovering other gradually.
The first thing you should know, I think, and perhaps the main thing is that writing is not important. I mean that in life there are things more important. Not just to believe those writers who claim to write for them is everything, it's the best thing to do in life. Sometimes it is the readers who you say it, believe you are praising. To remove iron to the question I always say, and readers of this blog know that one of the things I like about this job is that you can work barefoot. Writing is fine, of course, if your vocation, and even then sometimes you end a page becomes a torture, but I do not think a trade is more important than the street sweeper electrician or plumber. And I really mean it. But, for better or for worse, the writer is a very prestigious profession socially. Y a mí eso siempre me inquieta un poco. Sé que al entrar en este blog (y supongo que quienes suelen visitarlo son mis lectores) a algunos les puede parecer lo contrario, pero, si soy sincero, que cuando te encuentras con tus amigos tarde o temprano tu trabajo acabe siendo el centro de la conversación me desagrada bastante. Y con quienes no son tus amigos, también. Son momentos incómodos. Si no hablas de tu trabajo puedes parecer antipático o distante y, si lo haces, porque es lo que se espera de ti o porque la conversación se dirige hacia esos asuntos aunque no quieras, es difícil no quedar como un engreído o un idiota.
En fin. Puede que escribir sea importante. Pero no hay que darle importancia. 
Another issue inherent to the profession of writer is the uncertainty. Uncertainty about the past, present and future. You're never sure if what you have written or published actually worth or could have done better if, instead of publishing it in this editorial that instead of or filed with the award in that other place would have been more or fewer readers. When you're working on a novel is impossible to know if anyone would like, first to a publisher, then to the readers. So I think it's best to never think about it, do not let your condition or that you direct. Do what you think fit because, after all, one of the best things about this work is that while you're writing, you are solely responsible for what happens in the pages of your book. Not bad to listen to others, but not much. You know that the opinions are like assholes. Each has his ... I usually leave the original in my books a few very trusted people to give me his opinion. But I never do, if ever, until I finished the story as I thought I should finish it. I will always be indebted to those who read my manuscript, because one of the most tedious things I can think of is having to read the draft of another writer. And I admire and sympathize with the editors about it. Oh and one more thing on this question: if possible, it is better never to ask the opinion of a writer or a critic of what you have written. The authors, as a rule, we have the twisted tusk and we are too conditioned by our own writing. The best will always be an average reader, to tell you if he liked, if it has gone well or is tired or has not even been able to pass on the third page. That will always be better than giving your book to any bitter with the desk drawer full of unpublished novels because the publishing market, so unfair to them and so generous to those who publish without deserving it, ignore them. Someone like that can only make you yawn with a roll of subordinate clauses or the desirability of a dozen far-fetched adjectives in each sentence.
I think I have been many things to write. But today is fine. The best will be a second installment on this issue. We'll see.
© Andrés Pérez Domínguez, March 2011
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