Quotes from Joyce Elbert

Actually nerve is one of the qualities it takes to tackle a first novel, the others being inflated ego and a gambler's sense of crazed bravado, all of which I felt imbued with, more or less, when I sat down to write my account of one woman's efforts to keep her ex-husband, a deranged fence jumper, out of her apartment and life.

I still remember typing the title page on my manual Smith-Corona with clammy hands and a racing heart. When I came to the words, A novel by Joyce Elbert, I heard the New York Philharmonic break into Wagnerian praise for a major new literary voice, yet seconds later doubt and insecurity had crept in.

The last time I saw Paris, my heart was definitely not young and gay. Bitter and disillusioned would be more like it.

While it took much longer than I ever anticipated to see my writing efforts pay off, it finally happened so that at the age of forty-three I was my own woman, beholden to no one.

I had never been productive in beautiful, serene settings. I needed noise, activity, some kind of external energy to get me going.

Despite all of my moaning and groaning about the romantic disasters that continued to befall me, I knew if I were ever forced to choose I would take a good book over a good relationship any day of the week.

What saved us from becoming hard-nosed or callous was that we really liked each other, while remaining totally mystified by each other.