I think I was lucky to come of age in a place and time - the American South in the 1960s and '70s - when the machine hadn't completely taken over life. The natural world was still the world, and machines - TV, telephone, cars - were still more or less ancillary, and computers were unheard of in everyday life.
Ben FountainI realized I was never going to have any peace with myself unless I made an honest stab at trying to write.
Ben FountainI quit law in 1988 to start writing, and it took me 17 years from that point to get a book contract. I guess you can say I was on the slow train.
Ben FountainIf you could figure out how to live with family then you'd gone a long way toward finding your peace.
Ben Fountain