Wroblewski continued

LR: Many writers wish to become published authors. Being one who has achieved this lofty goal, can you describe something of how it feels?

DW: It feels like a natural outgrowth of the work, to be honest. I'm very proud of my experience in making software -- thirty years or so – which can be every bit as creative as writing a novel or making a photograph. You learn from those disciplines how arbitrary such boundaries are, between the work-in-progress and the work that is "done". It's never done. You could always do more. But nevertheless, you're finished with it, and it becomes this beautiful, foreign artifact that looks nothing like the stack of laser printer paper you've lived with for so long. Just when it becomes perfectly real to everyone else, it looks least like what you've known it to be as the writer.

I remember calling one of my writing teachers, Joan Silber, and asking how I would know when I was done with this book. I thought maybe I WAS done, I told her, but the result was by no means perfect. She said that perfection wasn't something to strive for, or even possible, in a novel. Maybe a short story, but not a novel. I've always been glad I made that phone call. I surely take comfort in that idea right now.