Goodreads asked Aida Edemariam:

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Aida Edemariam I have published only non-fiction, and one of the best things about doing that is the finding out — to train yourself to listen, and to look; the privilege of people talking to you, thinking aloud with you, feeling safe enough to confide in you. Traveling, sometimes, and finding words for what you see. That process of finding, above all - which is hard, and almost always frustrating (what ends up on the page is never anywhere near as good as the ideal in your head), but holds out a rather humbling promise of maybe, someday, saying something worthwhile.

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