More Focusing Strategies from the Pros
Last week, I posted a list of strange things writers do to get themselves writing. Well, this morning, I ran across a few more for the list (subscription required for full story, scroll down to "Why I Write"):"Emile Zola pulled the shades and composed by artificial light. Francis Bacon, we are told, knelt each day before creating his greatest works. Martin Luther could not write unless his dog was lying at his feet, while Ben Jonson needed to hear his cat purring. Marcel Proust sealed out the world by lining the walls of his study with cork. Gertrude Stein and Raymond Carver wrote in their cars, while Edmond Rostand preferred to write in his bathtub. Emily Dickinson hardly ever left her home and garden. Wallace Stevens composed poetry while walking to and from work each day at a Hartford insurance company. Alexander Pope and Jean Racine could not write without first declaiming at the top of their voices. Jack Kerouac began each night of writing by kneeling in prayer and composing by candlelight."
posted by Rebecca Skloot at 11:50 AM
1 Comments:
Interesting you should mention Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi and Flow ... I spent much of last week reading his work for a story I'm doing, and will be interviewing him soon.
And yes, I do know writers who use these "pre-planned psychological triggers" you're talking about ... just the other day, I was interviewing Pierce J. Howard, author of The Owner's Manual for The Brain: He has a specific hat he puts on when he's writing -- when the hat's on, he's not allowed to do anything else (and no one's allowed to talk to him). But more than that, he lights a candle on his desk ... from the moment he lights that candle to the moment he blows it out, he can't leave his desk. In part, it's a psychological trigger -- you write when the candle is burning -- but it's also practical: If he can't blow the candle out until he's done writing, he also can't leave his writing room, because that's dangerous -- an unattended candle could make his room, and all his work, go up in flames. I think that's a great trick, though it wouldn't work on me ... I live in NYC, which means I can see my desk from anywhere in my apartment.
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