I feel happiness when I am writing, because writing itself is the act that brings our hovering thoughts on our minds into reality by jotting down those. However, at the same time, when I cannot think some ideas to write my essays, it is really stressful, and it makes me give up writing. Therefore, I really wanted to learn from authors how do they regard writing, how do they cut all the distractions, and how do they form their environment to write their novels. In short, I wanted to know “The daily writing routines of great writers” and other things. I wanted to have any opportunity to have conversations with those great writers. However, I could not find one. One day when I was drinking a beer by myself at the bar, there were some writers that I already knew. There were Ray Bradbury, Jack Kerouac, famous Japanese writer Murakami Haruki and a few more. I carefully introduced myself to them, and asked for counseling about my serious agonies in writing my essays. They thought me as a sketchy person though. They loosened their guard after we conversed a little bit.
Later on, I asked my deepest question about writing. “Ray with what attitude do you write your novels? Writing is joyful for me as well. However, even for you I believe there is a hard time in writing.” So Ray responded to me “I work with joy. My passions drive me to the typewriter every day of my life”. His passion in writing seemed quite great. For the next question, I was quite curious about what routine they use for writing. For this question, every author had their own suggestions and they were so excited in sharing their habits in writing. I asked them. "Do you have any routines or habits specifically for writing?” Firstly, Jack Kerouac start the conversation “I had a ritual once of lighting a candle and writing by its light and blowing it out when I was done for the night. Also kneeling and praying before starting”. I personally thought he has super weird habits for writing. 'what is the relationship between a candle and writing, and why does he have to pray before he writes'. I thought he was an idiot. Secondly, Haruki Murakami shares his habit “I personally get up at 4:00 am and work for five to six hours. I keep to this routine every day without variation”. He was quite rigid to himself. If I were him, I would not be able to keep those rules. Lastly, Ray responded to me “My passions drive me to the typewriter every day of my life. So I never have to worry about schedules. Some new thing is always exploding in me, and it schedules me.” I was seriously envious of him and said “but not everyone is like you, there is a genius in writing like you though, but there are also normal people like me. So please give me more realistic habits to stick to writings”. Tchaikovsky suddenly came up to our conversation without any sound and suggested to me a more realistic, and helpful habit for writing “I never listen to music when I’m working. I haven’t that kind of attentiveness.” It was quite realistic and helpful compared to other suggestions. I wanted to keep having a conversation with him. So I asked “is there a particularly good place that you go to?” He replied “I personally like my house’s living room. There’s a lot of traffic. But it’s a bright, cheerful room. A girl pushing a carpet sweeper under my typewriter table has never annoyed me particularly.” In writing places, every author had his own strange preferences. And I had a curiosity about what makes them keep writing. Therefore I asked “what makes you keep writing? Doesn’t your wife give you a lot of stresses or pressures?” Tchaikovsky's answer was quite amazing to me “my wife, thank god, has never been protective of me, as, I am told, the wives of some writers are”. He seriously seemed to enjoy his writing because nobody intervenes in his writing. There is no one who pressures him even though, his family’s lives are supported by his writings ,and I feel quite respectful to his wife. And there is one more question left for him my most curious question. “How do you write when you are quite distracted or when you lose your motivation in writing?” He simply replied “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” It was quite simple. It was the answer that seems everyone already knew. However, I felt like I got strongly hit backward by that answer. Everything cannot be perfect. If I am going to wait every condition for writing is set, I would probably wait for forever. And with sympathetic face, Susan Sontag, also condoled me “once something is really under way, I don’t want to do anything else. I don’t go out, much of the time I forget to eat, I sleep very little. It’s a very undisciplined way of working and makes me not very prolific. But I’m too interested in many other things.” I felt quite assured. Even these great writers have the same problems as me, so it is absolute for me to have these struggles. And it was quite fruitful for me to have conversations with those great authors, since I could learn a lot of methods in dealing with writings and good habits.
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Jacob (Chan Woo Kim)
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