Zest for the Rest

When Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan writes a novel, it may go through 50 or 60 drafts.

The first one begins simply. She sits down with a legal pad and an open mind, deliberately creating by hand. She attempts to write about a half-dozen pages a day. At some point, the first draft is done.

Then comes, as she puts it, the “unpleasant tasks.”

From a CNN weekly series on creativity. Click the link to read more about Jennifer Egan’s writing.