Sublime

aberration

inchoate

precocious.

onerous

The first was for the Times in 1977, on the publication of A Book of Common Prayer, which, Joan said, was “the first book of mine that was noticed.”

People began calling her, saying, “I didn’t know you could write.” That was another sin. She could get published in a sound journal that meant business and didn’t publish fly-by-nights. She was twenty-eight. It was time for her to O.D., not get published.

Susanna Moore, author of eleven books, who teaches creative writing at Princeton.