What Famous Writers Did While WRITING

I'm a writer so I can say this:

Writers are strange!

 Take Charles Dickens and his deaf cat, Bob.  

Bob would watch Dickens as he read by candlelight.  

If he felt in need of play time, 

he would put out the candle with his paw repeatedly until the author got the idea.

Like Macak did with Nicola Tesla as a child, 

Bob would follow Dickens about like a dog.

Dickens loved Bob.  So much so that when Bob died, the master turned him into a letter opener!!

Not the whole cat, actually. Just a single paw, 

which the author had stuffed and attached to an ivory blade. 

The blade is engraved “C.D. In Memory of Bob 1862″ 

which is more grave marker than most pussycats can hope for.

LYING DOWN ON THE JOB

 Among the successful novelists who wrote lying down are Mark Twain, George Orwell, Edith Wharton, Woody Allen and Marcel Proust. 

They were all known for churning out pages while lying in bed or lounged on a sofa. 

American author and playwright Truman Capote even claimed to be a 

“completely horizontal author” because he couldn’t think and write unless he was lying down.

LET ME TAKE A STAND ON THAT

 Writers like Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll, and Philip Roth all liked writing standing up. 

These great thinkers have been inspired to pen their finest pieces at their standing desk. 

For health-conscious writers, this technique might work for you because standing desks offer many proven benefits.

LOOK IN THE INDEX!!

 Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada, was very particular about his writing instruments. 

He composed all his works on index cards, which he kept in slim boxes. 

This odd method enabled him to write scenes non-sequentially and re-order the cards any time he wanted.

 Nabokov also stored some of his lined Bristol cards underneath his pillow. 

This way, if an idea popped into his head, he could quickly write it down. 

You can use index cards when doing your note-taking or plotting too.

 It’s a different way to construct your story that can knock fun things loose.

BLUE IS THE COLOR OF MY TRUE LOVE'S ... FICTION? 

For decades, Dumas used various colors to indicate his type of writing.

 Blue was the color for his fiction novels, 

 pink for non-fiction or articles and yellow for poetry.

And you thought writing to music was strange when you did it?!

And we won't even get into Dan Brown hanging upside down to stir up his muse! 

WRITING in a SEASON OF UNCERTAINTY

 We live in an age of uncertainty.

A fatal amount of Covid-19

could have just

lodged in the membranes

of our eyes.

(Yes, we can catch it that way)

Or we become a victim of

violence

by uttering a

micro-aggression

of which we were unaware.

When did we get so

thin-skinned anyway?

I feel many of our

great grandparents

who survived

the depression

would tell us it was

past time to

grow up.

I got a scathing email recently from a reader who scorned me for 

even suggesting that a white male monarch could speak for and to all humanity.

The ghost of Mark Twain whispered in my ear, and I wrote back

that I would try to "man up" to these changing times.

But back to writing in these uncertain times.

I am not a Titan of Literature, but I have read and listened to many of them.

Take Harlan Ellison whose ghost visited my blog long ago:

 https://rolandyeomans.blogspot.com/2019/12/art-isnt-supposed-to-be-easyiwsg.html 

He would say that the very uncertainty, the very danger of our times

provides grist for the mill of our minds.

The above image should spark a dozen story ideas to us.

Yes, we are scared by the rioting, the plague killing our children now, and by the economic ruin hovering over the horizon.

Michelangelo didn't let the ache in his arms, the spasms in his back

keep him from crafting the masterpiece, the Pietà.  

Samuel Pepys lived through the London Fire, the Plague, and restive political unrest that could have resulted in his execution.

But he kept writing the journal that is studied by students to this day. 

We can take the idiocies of conflicting demands being ignored 

and make of them a riveting story or novel born of what we see and feel.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

You Don't Need a Parachute to Skydive

You just need one to Skydive 

TWICE!

Everyone knows what LOL means

How about LOA?

Well, my LOA is no LOL

Seems like the government will only pay me for two of the over three weeks I was out with Covid-19.

And the story first put out by the main office that it would cover two more weeks 

since employees more than likely would catch Covid-19 by repeatedly entering hospitals doing their job ...

Just was not so.

Oops!  

So this check was for THREE DAYS.

Hard to pay the rent and utilities on that!

Since I've learned not to trust the government 

nor my company,

I have been putting a little aside

which will be gutted by paying the rent,

 utilities, and car insurance. 

So it will be Ramen noodles for awhile!

 So when my new audio book
finally gets approved 
by Audible,

Would some of you
consider buying it?

'Cause I am one 
Insecure Writer
at the moment.

Yet, there is much
to thankful for.

 

Write Like Marcus Aurelius_IWSG Post

Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek 

as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. 

And 2000 years later, people are still reading it.

He wrote for himself ... as should we.  

Trends come, go.  

There are others with minds similar to ours.  Perhaps only a few. 

 But they will be loyal readers who will not go off running to the Next Big Thing.

He wrote on the battlefield. 

 Unlike most Roman Emperors, he fought the German barbarians alongside his troops.

It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, 

where he planed military campaigns from 170 to 180.

Like Marcus Aurelius, we should write where we are, when we can.

 Despite the rising rates of Covid-19, or the number of riots, or the clash of conflicting news reports, or explosions in Beirut,

we can focus on bringing the best prose we can to life.

 Covid-19, and the riots, and the politicians who curry votes over public health 

can make it seem we have no control over our lives.

But we have control over our minds, our thoughts, and what we choose to put on paper.

We find ourselves in this life with new storms.  

Yet we can decide our striving to be for good and not for evil... even in our writing.

Why this focus on Marcus Aurelius?

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084P819CQ

Lucas, my latest protagonist, a former O.S.S. operative and a sociopath, 

keeps himself socially functional by adhering as much as he can to the words of Marcus Aurelius.

Should Audible ever get time to review my latest audio book, you can purchase it if you choose.

Only 99 cents for the Kindle format and $5.99 for the paperback.

How affordable is that? 

And since my blood center is only paying me for 3 days on this latest check, 

this insecure writer could use the money!

The rent, utilities, and car insurance are 

all coming due. 

Ouch!

But Marcus Aurelius
would remind me:

or

or

  Wear a mask;
Stay well.

UPDATE_2

Thanks to Ann, I was able to 

re-take my Covid-19 test.

The results came back ...

Negative!

I start back Wednesday.

I am not in

Marathon shape

But I will get the job done.

Not to do so will

leave me without a job! 

I will mostly be by

myself

this weekend.

 So Wish me luck!

Update

Alex Cavanaugh emailed me asking how I was. 

Wasn't that thoughtful and caring of him?  It made me feel not quite so alone.

A few days back, my supervisor called to see how I was doing. 

He has brought me fluids and deposited an Audible check for me.

Speaking of Audible, 

my latest audio book is being reviewed by Audible.  

Once it comes out, would some of you consider buying it? 

The money isn't exactly rolling in.

My supervisor reluctantly told me that he could not hold my job indefinitely.


And that extreme weakness, diarrhea, night chills, and gut-deep nausea were not enough to explain any further absence 

although they are symptoms of Covid-19 ... and I tested positive for the virus.

Scary, right?

I told him I was going to 

get re-tested for Covid 

in a few days no matter how I felt.

The next day, he phoned to say to go back to get retested only if I felt better.

I've been walking up and down the stairs to my apartment 

while clinging to the railings to grow stronger. 

Though I am still weak, I am going to get retested this Monday.

Wish me luck, all right?

At times, worry awakens me at night. 

I remind myself that my times are in the Father's Hand and sing Christmas carols in my head ...

along with these songs:

 Wear those masks 

and stay well, hear?

My protagonist in my new audio book is a socially functioning sociopath 

whose mother taught him to live by the teachings of Marcus Aurelius,  

not the Bible, for she feared he would go all Old Testament on the world.