Some women are badgered mercilessly by biological clocks that tick louder and louder as infertility approaches. "Have a baby," the clock tells them. "Just look how cute that baby is! You need a baby. Now! While you still can." That part of me doesn't exist, but in its place is some sort of literary clock, every bit as annoying in its insistence and ubiquity. "Write the book," it says. "Look at that store full of books. One of those should be yours." Around my birthday, it turns rather mean spirited. "Another year with no book," it mocks. "If you were going to be a successful author, it would've happened by now. You should probably find some other career path." This literary clock knows how to push my buttons, reminding me that Jonathan Safran Foer wrote Everything Is Illuminated when he was 19. Stephen King published Carrie, Salem's Lot, and The Shining before his thirtieth birthday. Dave Eggers was a Pulitzer Prize nominee by the age of 30. Even Elizabeth Wurtzel pulled herself together long enough to write a best-seller by 26.
About the author
Chuck Palahniuk is author of the novels Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, Choke, Lullaby, Diary, Haunted, Rant, Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All, Damned, Doomed, and the upcoming Beautiful You. He also has two non-fiction books, the Portland travel memoir Fugitives & Refugees and the collection of true stories, essays, and interviews, Stranger Than Fiction.
