Maggie O'Farrell
Irish-British novelist
To keep going and never give up, and to enjoy it to the absolute full because, at any moment, the curtain can fall.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
We are too often advised to live life to the fullest. That’s too much pressure. The key is to find joy and poignancy in the quiet and mundane. Life is lived between the so-called big moments.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 August 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 132 →Don’t answer every question you’re asked.
We are not here for long – try not to take everything too seriously.
Jane Asher
English actress and author
Not to take anything for granted.
More from Harlan Coben
View profile →I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but if I could go back and fix the mistake, I wouldn’t be here.
I worked a janitorial job, cleaning university dormitories after students had gone home for the summer. You can’t imagine the condition some of those rooms were in. They could have doubled as sets for a slasher film.
I don’t even voice them. Perhaps the books are my outlet here.
A white-hot explosion that turns into a comforting warmth.
I was followed by a mob of fans when I was doing a photoshoot in Paris. When I signed autographs for them during a break, one remarked: “Who the fuck is Harlan Coben? I told you it wasn’t Bruce Willis.”
With a wistful smile.
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