I just lack the basic fact-finding instinct.
Travis Holland, Interview, Fiction Writers Review, 11 April 2011 source ↗
The question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
View all 264 →I’m judgmental.
Feeling and being unfocused.
I cut people off a lot when I talk. It’s a terrible habit.
My love of sugar.
More from Richard Ford
View profile →I don’t think places have essences any more than people do.
I’m actually suspicious of people who have a lot of friends.
reconcile us to life as it is, and make us more real to ourselves.
Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.
I used to tell Kristina, “I choose to be married to you every day.”
At 3am, worry seems to be my default mode.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
John Grisham, Jane Asher, Margaret Atwood, Julian Clary, Kathy Lette, Jacqueline Wilson
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject