"We Only Know So Much," by Elizabeth Crane
Jeff Glor talks to Elizabeth Crane about "We Only Know So Much."
Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?
Elizabeth Crane: I was at Yaddo, an incredibly beautiful artist's colony, in the summer of 2010, and though I had planned to revise a first draft of a memoir, I was so inspired by the setting that I thought, I have to write something new so I can say I wrote it here!
JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?
EC: That what I thought was going to be a short story turned into a novel. I had some character sketches I was planning to develop into short stories, and when I looked at them I thought, hm, these people might be a family. Further to my surprise, I just kept writing, and when I realized this story that kept getting longer and longer wasn't done yet, I finally had to admit that this short story writer was writing a novel.
JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?
EC: I heard there's a new TV show called Craft Wars and I am pretty sure I would be filling out my application.
JG: What else are you reading right now?
EC: Oh, man, so many good things on my pile. Just started Mark Haskell Smith's "Heart of Dankness." Timothy Schaffert's beautiful "The Coffins of Little Hope." Those are on top. Just finished "Wild" and am rethinking who I am as a person because that Cheryl Strayed is a total badass.
JG: What's next for you?
EC: I'm never 100 percent sure what's next - I'm looking at putting more stories together for a collection; I have about 50 pages of a second novel - but what's immediately next is packing for a big move back to NYC!
For more on "We Only Know So Much," visit the Harper Collins website.
