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It was a wonderful experience — wonderful in an odd sense, in that I always felt there were three steps in writing:

The first step, which is the anticipation of writing — wonderful, because there you are with an abstract idea, and you’re quite sure that you can do it, and it’s going to be quite wonderful, and you can visualize all the wonderful sales, the interviews, the reviews; you start to write your Nobel acceptance speech. And so that’s great, because there’s nothing real there, in the anticipation of writing.

Number three is the other end of that, having finished — and that’s a wonderful feeling, because number two is an agony all the way.

Phantom Tollbooth author Norton Juster, who turns 87 today, on writing, creativity, and anxiety.

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For Norton Juster’s birthday, The Dot and the Line – his quirky vintage love story in lower mathematics.

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For a deliciously geeky Valentine’s Day, The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics – a vintage gem by Norton Juster

Norton Juster writing Phantom Tollbooth children's books history and litearture interview lit

It was a wonderful experience — wonderful in an odd sense, in that I always felt there were three steps in writing:

The first step, which is the anticipation of writing — wonderful, because there you are with an abstract idea, and you’re quite sure that you can do it, and it’s going to be quite wonderful, and you can visualize all the wonderful sales, the interviews, the reviews; you start to write your Nobel acceptance speech. And so that’s great, because there’s nothing real there, in the anticipation of writing.

Number three is the other end of that, having finished — and that’s a wonderful feeling, because number two is an agony all the way.

Happy 85th birthday, Norton Juster! The beloved author on writing The Phantom Tollbooth.

Norton Juster writing culture and society interviews history and literature

I always felt there were three steps in writing:

The first step, which is the anticipation of writing — wonderful, because there you are with an abstract idea, and you’re quite sure that you can do it, and it’s going to be quite wonderful, and you can visualize all the wonderful sales, the interviews, the reviews; you start to write your Nobel acceptance speech. And so that’s great, because there’s nothing real there, in the anticipation of writing.

Number three is the other end of that, having finished — and that’s a wonderful feeling, because number two is an agony all the way.

50 years after writing The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster reflects on writing and the anxiety of the creative process.