BUSTLE BOOK CLUB
Why Ada Calhoun Scrapped Her Book About An Artist To Write About Her Father
Ada Calhoun is Type A. The author doesn’t procrastinate, can steadily write for 15 hours straight if uninterrupted, and loves a deadline. But when she set out to write a biography of poet Frank O’Hara, her modes of production were tested. It was also a case of history repeating itself. A few years ago, Calhoun discovered that her father, New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl, had tried to write O’Hara’s biography — and failed. Sure that she could succeed where he could not, Calhoun set to work on it. But as she did, she encountered a Type A person’s worst nightmare: the need for a plan B. Read More