Do your thing A.R.
Sit down to catch it
flex fingers, light cigarette,
open document
Phone rings
No, thank you
I do not want your steam
cleaning or gym
membership
Paragraph waits, cursor
blinks. Page thinks
get some coffee
phone rings.
Hello caller yes
I know. I’ll see what I
can do of course.
Yes, OK.
Hatchling paragraph flails,
threatens suicide, last chance
catch me now
or else
Gate commotion
arrivals, departures, small
talk, strange weather
we’re having
Phone rings, sorry
she’s not in or wrong number
all day this way.
Sluice paragraph
People are just
doing their thing I’m sure
but because of it,
I can’t
Stephen King says that unless you’re brave enough to shut the door, you won’t. Along with a shut (and bolted, and lead-lined, and bulletproof, and sealed, and bricked up) door, I’m thinking that it might be an idea to build an underground bunker in the middle of a haunted forest. The kind with booby-traps and stuff, and a string sort of thing attached to a catty for pelting hollow-point haycorns at that deranged, lost, unwitting type of intruder who manages to make it through the asp moat by sheer luck. But then, you might spend so much time on defence and paranoia that you wouldn’t get any writing done anyway.
Mr King also said that being married is part of what helps him be so prolific. Yes, I can see how that might work for him. A wife is a useful thing. A good one will feed you, proofread, rescue manuscripts from the bin/laundry/dog, bring tea, keep the children quiet and away from that closed door, screen phone calls (“Dear, this is one you’ll want to take. It’s the publisher, he wants to know how you’d prefer your million buck advance – cheque or cash?”) and generally facilitate your entire career.
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Aspiring writer seeks good stay at home wife. Must be literate. Must be strict with children and dogs. Contact Audrey ASAP
