 "I am a completely horizontal author. I can't think unless I'm lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch, and with a cigarette and coffee handy. I’ve got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis."
No, that's not me. That was how Truman Capote (pictured) wrote such well-known books as Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood. Some days though I can see myself following his writing process - the coffee to mint tea to sherry and martinis does sound kind of nice. My own writing process, especially when I am working on something big, is more like that of Stephen Fry. Here's what he has to say: "I don’t take another job. I don’t do anything. I go up to my house in the country and pull out all the plugs, virtually.I just do it nonstop until I'm finished. I envy writers who can write on planes and take a break for a week and then get back to it. I have to get into a sort of zone. [...] With writing, I don’t know what it is. I just have to get into a complete world. It has something to do with an inability to concentrate, which is the absolute bottom line of writing." I've never been able to write on planes either and I do find myself slipping into my little world of writing, that 'zone' he mentions. We're all different when it comes to how we write, the conditions we work best in, and some of those requirements can be downright zany. But if they work for you, then full speed ahead and carry on regardless of what others might think and say. Phooey on them. The main thing is to get writing, and whether you camp out at the kitchen table, scribble notes whilst in the bath, recline in bed with plenty of pillows and a notepad, work best on airplanes or sitting in a supportive office chair in front of the computer, makes no difference. It's all about the writing!
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