Personal Bests

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

The Swineherd, Brittany Oil Paul Gauguin

We recently enjoyed listening to the interview on NPR with veteran journalist and author Pete Hamill, who made some remarkable comments about his decision to develop as a fiction writer. He stated a fundamental truth about creativity and personal responsibility that we think applies to visual artists as well. In the interview about his new book, Tabloid City: A Novel, Mr. Hamill explained why he quit drinking at age 38 to seriously pursue his fiction writing while still working his day job as a journalist.

Interviewer Dave Davies asked Pete Hamill, “You were, by any measure, a very productive writer during your drinking years. What do you think it took away from you?”

Mr. Hamill replied, “I was a very prolific journalist because I could always squeeze enough out of my talent to get a newspaper piece done. What it took away from me was the courage to test the extent of whatever my talent was.”

“The other thing that drin…