How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors

Another marvelous gift from marvelous Maggie. Dan Crowe is the creator of the cult-literary magazine Zembla. (I had never heard of him.) He got the... (show more)

Another marvelous gift from marvelous Maggie. Dan Crowe is the creator of the cult-literary magazine Zembla. (I had never heard of him.) He got the notion to poll writers, and sent out a query to the luminaries of the day. Where do you get your ideas?, he asked them. What do you do all day? What inspires you? This book is a compilation of over 60 responses from the likes of A.S. Byatt, Johathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates, Alain de Botton, and Jane Smiley. There’s even a response from the loathed author of my original Chicken Pounder, who I still maintain should be roasting on a stake like a weenie.

But where was I? Writer respondents sent Crowe words, pictures, and abstract concepts…this book is a quirky assemblage of a myriad of personal inspirations that coax beautiful words onto paper in the solitary world where writers write. A.S. Byatt consults a Creature that sits on her desk. It looks like a Welch troll. She sent a picture of it. Joyce Carol Oates stares dreamily at a painting of a woman done by her friend Gloria Vanderbilt. The woman in the painting has no tattoo in evidence. Another writer sticks post-it notes of ideas in neat battalion lines all over the office walls. My friend the Fabulous Anne does exactly the same thing when she works, but she doesn’t need as many stickies as this guy does. Alain de Botton swears by his Very Large Desk. Also pictured. Lots of word people write of favorite prints, paintings, or little desktop sculptures. Others have special drinks and special foods. There is something secret and intimate and confessional about this book. I really love it. My favorite author response is from Jane Smiley.

She takes hot showers. Her ideas come with the water.

That’s the way it works for me, too. (show less)