C Pam Zhang says that it’s OK to not be productive during your quarantine.
Zhang appeared (virtually, of course) on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday to discuss her debut novel, How Much of These Hills Is Gold. The book has drawn largely positive reviews from critics, with a reviewer for Kirkus calling it “aesthetically arresting and a vital contribution to America’s conversation about itself.”
Meyers asked Zhang about her writing process, saying that he’d heard she likes to think about the story for a long time before putting pen to paper.
“‘Thinking’ is a little bit generous,” Zhang said, prompting a laugh from Meyers. “One thing that I’ve been interested in in the past few years is sort of divesting from this cult of productivity that I think we all live under. I think for art, you have to wait for the inspiration to strike, you have to let all these feelings sort of simmer and build up inside you.”
Zhang said that writers shouldn’t feel guilty for not being productive while they’re stuck at home.
“There is definitely that expectation of people, but I just want to push back on that,” she said. “I just don’t think this is the time. Everyone is in some stage of grief, everyone is worried, you have so much anxiety. That isn’t the place where art is going to come from.”
Zhang also said she was almost relieved that her scheduled book tour isn’t happening for now.
“It’s actually been really lovely, because I, like many authors, don’t actually like being in the limelight,” she said. “It gets rid of the one thing that I least like about in-person events, which is the question of, where do you look?”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
