I'm a writing book junkie. While I appreciate the writing advice inside, what I enjoy most are the personal tidbits, the kind of experiences and observations that non-writers just don't get. They remind me that while the rest of the world might think it's odd to take a detour off the highway to see a six-legged steer because "I might write about it someday," my fellow writers will understand (most of them, anyway).
Here are 6 random "if you're a writer, you'll understand" moments from some of my favorite writing books:
- Writing Anywhere
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Pen on Fire
Recently, as I waited in the car at my son's soccer practice, I wrote a draft of a magazine column. I couldn't find writing paper anywhere in the car, but in the trunk, under the folded-up cart I use at flea markets, I found a brown shopping bag and covered its sides and bottom with a first draft. - Being Recognized
Natalie Goldberg, Wild Mind
My picture is on the back of the Bones book. Someone spotted my mother. My mother and I resemble one another. My mother is in her seventies and I am forty. The woman who saw my mother nudged someone else. They looked from the book cover to my mother on the couch and then back again. "That must be her," they decided. One of them shook her head. "This picture must have been taken years ago."
"Writing's a hard life," the other laughed. - Plotting
Chris Baty, No Plot? No Problem!
Writer Carolyn Lawrence admits that "Most of the members of the gym now think there is something seriously wrong with me, because I talked my plot out loud to myself while working out, all while I was wearing my headphones." - Working at Home
Nancy Pickard and Lynn Lott, Seven Steps on the Writer's Path
For years, Nancy wrote in an office in her basement. It wasn't pretty, it was damp, it had no windows, but people had to think twice before descending the stairs to bother her down there. (After she told this to a group of first graders years ago, one little boy asked her, "Does your husband ever let you come up out of the basement?") - Spending That First Check
Elizabeth Berg, Escaping into the Open
When I got home, I spread everything I'd bought on the dinging room table, showed my husband, and then burst into tears. When my husband asked what was wrong, I said, "Look at all this junk! I could have had a Kitchen-Aid Mixmaster instead of all this junk! If I ever sell another article, I'm buying a Kitchen-Aid Mixmaster!" - Characters
Stephen King, On Writing
Recounting his experience being hit by a car by a man named Bryan Smith:
He [Bryan Smith] and Bullet left the campground where they were staying, he later tells an investigator, because he wanted some of those Marzes-bars they have up to the store. When I hear this little detail some weeks later, it occurs to me that I have nearly been killed by a character right out of one of my own novels.
What are some of your favorite tidbits from writing books?
Be sure to check out The Writing Bug for links to other humorous posts about writing.