This year marks the eighth anniversary of David Foster Wallace’s passing. During his college years, Mac Barnett took a writing course with Wallace (pictured, via) as the professor.
Barnett wrote a piece in The Guardian to remember his teacher. In the article, he recalls meeting Wallace in his office to try to land a spot in his class. Here’s an excerpt:
“He did teach me how to write, or at least how to go about writing, and it’s a lot tougher than putting together a clean and well-wrought sentence. It’s as tough as having a real conversation. Because to have a real conversation, you have to figure out what you actually care about, and then you have to figure out how to make somebody else care too. And we all know how scary that is, right?”