uberlife Real Champions series: Hanging out with Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean became a staff writer for The New Yorker in 1992. She has also written for Vogue, Rolling Stone and Esquire. Orlean has also written several books, including “The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People,” (2001), “Red Sox and Blue Fish,” (1987), “Saturday Night,” (1990) and “The Orchid Thief” (1998).
SS: So Susan you’ve had a very successful career, written for various publications including the New Yorker and books, and all sorts of stuff. If you think back to when you were first starting out, or were first inspired to write and follow the path of journalism, what was it that inspired or motivated you to start up on that journey?
SO: What inspired me initially?
SS: Yes
SO: What inspired me initially was reading. The experience of reading convinced me that words could be magical and that the experience of reading could be transformative. That has never really left me. I think that some kids want to learn how to do magic tricks, for me I think learning to be a writer was that same kind of impulse, wanting to do this thing that seemed like you could make magic happen. I always loved telling stories and I loved organising my experience of life into stories. It came very naturally to me from the time I was really a very little kid.
SS: When was your first writing role or position, whether that’s professionally or volunteering and how did you start out writing?
SO: My first professional writing experience was when I had just finished college and had moved out West. I lucked into a job at a small magazine that had just started up. Unlike most first jobs which usually involve being an assistant and making coffee and really not writing, this was actually a writing job. It was pure luck that I got it. I attribute it to nothing but incredible good fortune and enthusiasm because I wanted the job really badly, and I think that was pretty clear. I worked there for a year, which was about the amount of funding that the publication had, and then I got another writing job. I didn’t really know what or how I was doing it but I just learned by doing. I was lucky that I had opportunities to learn and make my mistakes in a professional setting with good editors around who were teaching me.
SS: Along your journey can you think of any person or people you’ve hung out with along the way that inspired you and what did you learn from them?
SO: I’ve always been really lucky to have been around a lot of writers senior to me, who were very generous, very willing to help young writers getting started. In some cases it was very specifically talking about writing, in others it was giving me an opportunity or entree to editors and magazines. I’ve got a long list of people who have been incredibly generous to me. That’s how the world works in the creative fields, because you don’t go and get certified as a writer: you make it happen by doing it. That comes about through people mentoring you and giving you a hand and help pulling you up the ladder.
SS: You’ve had a fairly prolific career, in the last 12 - 24 months can you think of a time when you had your highest moment professionally and conversely when you had one of your lowest moments professionally, and then how you picked yourself up and motivated yourself to continue?
SO: Probably the high point was having my new book reviewed and featured on the cover of the New York Times book review, Sunday section, which is a once in the lifetime experience for a writer. And it was immensely exciting, gratifying and hard to express how thrilling it was. Conversely there are always low points. The last 12 months I have a new book so it’s been a real high. But anytime you get a bad review, and no matter how well reviewed a book is there are always going to be bad reviews, and I got one for my book, in the first batch of early write ups….
SS: How do you get over it? How do you handle it?
SO: You have to first of all contextualise it and figure that this is one review out of many. You’ll get 30 or 40 reviews of a book and even the most prominent one isn’t the only one and this wasn’t especially prominent. I just reminded myself that I’ve gotten a ton of great reviews and that everybody gets bad reviews and not everyone needs to like my book. So I can’t feel bad about it personally; I have to think about it objectively and consider whether it is really meaningful or not. The bottom line always is that I am proud of my book, really proud.
The criticisms, I thought, were very foolish. If someone criticises you and it feels correct that hurts because then you sort of see your failure. In the case where you feel the criticism isn’t really legitimate you just have to brush it off and say ‘Hey, it’s opinion’. There are certain people who are not going to like my work and it doesn’t matter what I do: they are not going to like it. Then there are lots of people who really like it. That’s the nature of being a writer, that’s the nature of being a human. Not everybody likes you. If you feel good about your work then after a bad review you will feel a little stung and a little hurt, but you have to step back and just think ‘I’m proud of my book’. So that’s what matters, to feel proud of the job you’ve done and then move on. I try not to dwell or read negative reviews very closely because there’s no benefit in it.
SS: What advice would you give to young people starting out in journalism or people who have got a dream to write a book?
SO: My first piece of advice is to really fall in love with the idea of being a storyteller and think about what that means and what responsibility comes with it along with the pleasure and the opportunity. Secondly, read as much as you can because you learn the most about writing by reading. Thirdly, think about what it is that you want to say to the world and think about why you want to be a writer and what appeals to you, and try to focus on that. Fourthly be a hard worker. It’s not all art and magic, it also involves a lot of work and it’s important to take it very seriously and work really hard.
SS: That’s great advice, thank you Susan.
You’re in LA and you’ve written for New Yorker as well. If you could hang out anywhere in the world where would you be and what would you be doing?
SO: Permanently?
SS: Just hanging out
SO: Oh gosh, that’s tough. Tokyo. I’d love to just be hanging out in Tokyo, browsing, window shopping and eating sushi.
SS: Have you been before or something you have always wanted to go to?
SO: I have been to Tokyo, but it’s been a while, and I have a real hankering to go back. It’s just a really exciting place — but I love so many places that it’s hard to pick one. I can picture one particular shopping area in Tokyo where it’s so much fun being a spectator and watching the world go round.
SS: I can only imagine. I would love to go out there. Our last question Susan. We spend so much of our time on online networks to sort of maintain relationships. Where do you see the value in taking the time to connect offline, whether it’s with your friends, followers or your peers?
SO: It’s important to remember that the world is full of subtlety and nuance. I’m online all the time and I value it and see tremendous opportunity and pleasure in it, but I think you have to remember that there is a texture to real life experience that is irreplaceable and important and refreshing. It’s very, very important to continue engaging with that, especially if you want to be a writer. I dread the idea of a world in which the writer does his or her work from a desk exclusively and is never out in the world, smelling the smells and hearing the sounds and bumping into things and having experiences, because that is what makes a story come alive.
SS: Thanks so much Susan, that was great.
SO: My pleasure.
