Rolf Potts recently posted a Q&A on travel writing with author and essayist Gary Shteyngart. Here’re a few snippets I like:
How did you get started writing?
I’ve been writing since I was a kid in Russia. My grandma paid me in little pieces of cheese for every page I wrote. That’s how you create a writer. By paying him or her with something edible.
What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?
I usually don’t find this part very challenging, unless the language is very difficult (see: Thai) and the address system of the place I’m writing about is very strange (see: Seoul).
Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?
Well, I’m primarily a novelist. That’s my main bread and butter. But the travel writing is very important to me, because it gets me out of the house. I still believe that writers need to see the world to understand their own place in it.
What is the biggest reward of life as a traveler and writer?
Life is short and our planet is finite. What can be more important than seeing the totality of the human condition in this awful and wonderful world of ours?