"Talking is a hydrant in the yard and writing is a faucet upstairs in the house. Opening the first takes the pressure off the second."
- Robert Frost
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."
- Robert Heinlein
"When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can."
- Samuel Lover
7 comments:
I love Heinlien's quote. It makes me feel so wonderfully dirty!
I wonder how Mr. Lover scratched when he didn't have a pen?
Doc
Agree with Doc. Heinlien's is great. I told a couple of mates that I wrote, a while back, and they actually laughed. I used to find it hard to tell people because of that exact response. Heinlein's quote maybe right, do it in private. Don't give a toss about telling people now though. My mates are builders...what more can I say. I'm certainly in the wrong job!!
Doc,
I politely disagree, he makes a perfectly natural thing seem all too skeevy.
Maybe when Samuel's inkwell ran dry, he used a stick on the dirt alleys near Burlington Street. That is where Mr. Lover apparently worked on "Bentley's Miscellany Magazine," with Charles Dickens. He also painted, when he wasn't writing songs.
David,
Only about eight people at my job even know that I write and only two even know that I'm published. Sometimes it is nearly impossible to explain to people that writers come from all walks of life, and that you don't have to wear a tweed jacket with elbow patches, to make yourself a worthy scribe.
Lover's quote speaks best to the addiction in each of us who writes....nothing satisfies the itch/that desire like writing.....
Excellent post!
Kevin,
Absolutely, and thanks.
What he ^ say?
David,
The language may be different, but it's still a Monty Python song that rhymes with "Pam."
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