For National Book Award winner Alice McDermott, being a writer is a lot like being a believer. You get used to uncertainty, and become comfortable living in the dark.

On this episode McDermott, a frequent Commonweal contributor, shares a career’s worth of insights on the art of fiction with managing editor Katie Daniels.

She also recounts the moment when she realized she would be a writer, and discusses what a lifetime of working with words has taught her.

For further reading:

• Things, Alice McDermott
• Confessions of a Reluctant Catholic, Alice McDermott
• Nothing to be Done, Mollie Wilson O’Reilly