• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Stories that are part of our lives

  • Blog
  • My Books
  • About
  • Contact Me

Reading Around…and Writing

October 31, 2013 By Jacqueline Briggs Martin

A doll sitting on a chair

I should be writing but–confession time– instead decided to read this article on Donna Tartt in today’s NY Times. It is about a writer, and writing, after all. The article is prompted by the release of her new book, “The Goldfinch,” and touches on her early life.

The Dickensian sweep of “The Goldfinch” has its roots in Ms. Tartt’s childhood in Grenada, Miss., where she began writing and drawing her own books when she was 5 years old. Taking copies of National Geographic, she would cut out pictures of a zebra or a child, and write a story about the picture. “I wrote books in this way, around images,” Ms. Tartt said, something that didn’t occur to her until “The Goldfinch” — a book that surrounds an image of a luminous yellow-tinged bird — was complete.

So it was worth it–for the reminder that we all have the same tools, the same prompts–pictures from magazines, objects. And Donna Tartt didn’t mention them but there are the conversations we overhear, the names that capture us.

Here’s another piece from the interview.

Ms. Tartt is a lifelong keeper of notebooks, and some of the earliest scenes in “The Goldfinch” were taken from notes dated 1993. “I was writing for a while not knowing what I was writing,” she said. “That’s the way it’s been with all my books. Things will come to you and you’re not going to know exactly how they fit in. You have to trust in the way they all fit together, that your subconscious knows what you’re doing.”

Trust, that’s what’s needed, especially at the beginning of a work, when the story seems to show up in bits that are not necessarily connected to each other.

Emboldened with trust–and determination, I am now going back to work.

Filed Under: News

    Previous Post

  • Book Parties!

    Next Post

  • Is There a Book…

Subscribe for Updates

Enter your email address to get my new blog posts immediately sent to your inbox.

NOTE: Children under 13 years old must have their parents
fill in the email form below using their parent’s email address.

Footer

Special Events

Book Cover for Farmer Eva’s Green Garden Life

Announcing “Farmer Eva’s Green Garden Life“

I am so excited about the publication this summer of my new book Farmer Eva’s Green Garden Life. The book tells the story of one Massachusetts farmer who has supported herself, become a legend, and built a community growing greens and herbs on 2-3 acres of land. Here’s a recent review from Shelf Awareness: Picture […]

Contact Me

artwork - frog using laptop next to phone booth

(Click the picture above to contact me)

Subscribe for Updates

Enter your email address to get my new blog posts immediately sent to your inbox.

Children under 13 years old must have their parents fill in the email form below using the parent’s email address.

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy (US)

Copyright © 2025 Jacqueline Briggs Martin. All Rights Reserved.

Website by Market Street.