A very vulnerable thing

Thanks to a late-night e-mail from Susana Raab, I caught Jhumpa Lahiri on Charlie Rose last night, and that led me to reading some online interviews with her this afternoon. In one, at The Atlantic, she said:

It’s easy for me to think, “Why am I doing this? There are so many great writers and great books—what’s the point?” I can get into that mindframe pretty easily, and the more I see that this or that book is coming out, the more easily I go into a very scared place. I know that about myself. I feel protective of my work. And the ability to stay focused is a very vulnerable thing.

Blew my mind. In another interview, she said that she doesn’t have Internet access on her computer and has only really been online looking over other people’s shoulders. (The interview was from 1999, so maybe things have changed for her in the time since then, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t.)

I love blogging, love that someone I met through blogging contacted me through e-mail to tell me about an interview with a writer I’d posted about here. But sometimes I read about other photographers and all they’re accomplishing, and I just want to shut down, forget the rest of the world, and live only in my own.

I haven’t yet ruled that out.