did have two of his own art projects: novels
The Hottest State (1996) and
Ash Wednesday (2002). But when the books came out, Hawke the writer discovered that readers kept seeing Hawke the star in them. "Reading the reviews – and most of them were very kind," he says, "it became clear to me that no one could get over that I was an actor. The notoriety that I'd gained as a performer. They're reading it with these characters I'd played in their heads." In Germany, on tour for the second book, Hawke mentioned this to a publisher. "He said to me, 'Your problem is you're not a famous writer, you're a famous person who writes.'" He told Hawke that he wouldn't get past that perception "until you stare it in the face" – that is, put yourself on the page.