“The Writer’s Life–What Is It? The Life and Work of Kevin ‘Mc’ McIlvoy”

I had just published my own first story collection. Mc was kind enough to join me for a reading at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina…. The crowd was small, sales were modest. Afterward, signing stock…I noticed that, as I had often done with my own books, Mc was now taking returns of some of his own books that had not sold, including Hyssop. I admit it shocked me a bit. I did not know that such a venerable writer, beloved teacher, powerful person faced that sort of humbling transaction as part of his writing life. Mc must have seen the stricken look on my face. He paused to tell me a story. He had been told early on that his books would take the literary world by storm, he said. Unexpected things happened, as they do in publishing. Editors move on, publishers run out of money, agents die, publicists change their plans, books get remaindered and sold back to the author—it happens to just about every serious prose writer who keeps at it for a while. Mc, being kind, showed me that day that I was not alone, and that maybe—maybe—the thrill of publishing and awards, crowds and bookstore sales were beside the point. Rather, the writer’s job is to connect—with each other as well as with our readers.