Admired for her quiet daring, her structures, and her inventions, most of all she is revered for her sentences.
SICHA: A few people may talk about the “craft of writing,” but they sound phony. The way you put it is very realistic: that this is an important thing to do if you care about writing.
LE GUIN: The word craft these days has this sort of funny, twee sound, like some little artisan putting the yeast in his handcrafted bread. Craft is how you do something well—anything. You can do anything with craft or with skill, or without it. Writing an English sentence takes a good deal of craft and skill. Writing a good English sentence takes a lot more of it.
At Interview, Choire Sicha talks with revered author Ursula K. Le Guin about balancing writing and parenthood, the relevance of “craft,” and having confidence in oneself as a writer.