Ashbel Green at Knopf had consented to look at
the manuscript of a novel he had written, and he decided
to deliver it in person, and put the hard sell on Green.
I don’t know if he even got in to see him. I know he later
told me William S. Burroughs’ advice to him had been,
“Keep it in the family. Stick with your friends.”
That’s good advice, but Burroughs didn’t follow it.
I stuck with myself, but it wasn’t a choice. No, that’s not true.
John Bennett helped me. I should have stuck with him.
Instead I said things like I was “unpublished,” meaning,
“unpublished by
sharper than a serpent’s tooth is an ungrateful child.”
I took what John did for me for granted. It wasn’t enough.
It’s never enough. A writer is a black suckhole of need.