Mary Karr
American memoirist and poet, author of The Liars' Club and The Art of Memoir
Mary Karr (American memoirist and poet, author of The Liars' Club and The Art of Memoir) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include The Art of Memoir, Revision (writing), Lit (memoir).
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
The Art of Memoir
Karr argues that smell is the most primordial and emotional form of memory and uses it in writing exercises.
“smell is the most primordial thing. memory and the most emotional memory and it's stored way back in that snake brain hypothalamus”
The Tim Ferriss Show: #878: How to Start When You're Stuck, Finish What You Begin, and Stop Waiting for Inspiration — Creative Advice from Elizabeth Gilbert, Seth Godin, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Lamott and More (Aug 5, 2026) · Listen from 32:17
Revision (writing)
Karr says that after DeLillo told her every writer writes bad books, she accepted that her book might be bad and became willing to fail.
“maybe it's just supposed to be a bad book, but it's the book that's standing in line to be written”
The Tim Ferriss Show: #878: How to Start When You're Stuck, Finish What You Begin, and Stop Waiting for Inspiration — Creative Advice from Elizabeth Gilbert, Seth Godin, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Lamott and More (Aug 5, 2026) · Listen from 27:21
Lit (memoir)
Karr recounts discarding 1,200 finished pages while writing her memoir Lit.
“threw out 1,200 pages of lit. Yeah. Finished pages, too. That's not draft”
The Tim Ferriss Show: #878: How to Start When You're Stuck, Finish What You Begin, and Stop Waiting for Inspiration — Creative Advice from Elizabeth Gilbert, Seth Godin, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Lamott and More (Aug 5, 2026) · Listen from 27:21
Appearances
#878: How to Start When You're Stuck, Finish What You Begin, and Stop Waiting for Inspiration — Creative Advice from Elizabeth Gilbert, Seth Godin, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Lamott and MoreThe Tim Ferriss Show · Aug 5, 2026 · 59 min
Tim Ferriss compiles writing advice from Elizabeth Gilbert, Anne Lamott, Joyce Carol Oates, Jerry Seinfeld, Mary Karr, Brandon Sanderson and Seth Godin on starting, persisting and finishing.
Often appears with
- Tim Ferriss · 1 shared episode
- Elizabeth Gilbert · 1 shared episode
- Anne Lamott · 1 shared episode
- Joyce Carol Oates · 1 shared episode
- Jerry Seinfeld · 1 shared episode
- Brandon Sanderson · 1 shared episode
- Seth Godin · 1 shared episode