WRITING EVERYWHERE & ANYWHERE

In Hurricane Eye, Paul Simon sings...

"You want to be a writer
But you don’t know how or when
Find a quiet place
Use a humble pen"

I say, if you have a laptop then all the better. And if it isn't too quite don't worry, either. We often don't write because -- well, we don't have the right chair, we feel tired, we need to be in a library or not in a library. 

Paul Simon's point -- just skip the pomp and circumstance and write the darn thing. He should know...he's a fine and prolific lyricist, indeed.

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American University of Paris kindly invited me to come back this April and speak about my research -- a project I had started there about six years ago. I decided to spend an additional week doing more interviews for the book and grabbing any place I could find to do a little more writing.

Journalists know how to do this...they know how to write on the back of a steam engine or on the back of an elephant.

As a doctoral student accustomed to an office and the Library of Congress -- then a 6-week writers' retreat at the Carey Institute for Global Good, I had little experience with on-the-go writing. Paris is a good beginners spot. I figure, if my colleagues can write between bullet shots and while climbing over the rubble caused by flattening earthquakes, I can learn to write in a Parisian café.

Yes, they mock me a bit for being the petite bourgeois as compared to their shooting out 4 articles a day in the midst of mayhem, but I suspect there are others like me. And, I do think there is something to be stepping back and taking time for another level of reflection.

I set up this little writing space in my apartment in Paris to do just that. I was astonished to learn that the little dog that barks all morning in Arlington, VA seems to have a brother in Paris. I turned on the stereo and let Haydn blow him out.  

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WRITING WHENEVER

Then we have our stories about when we write. My story is that I only write well in the morning. It's not actually true. I just prefer writing in the dark of the morning. At night, I get afraid of ghosts.

                                                        Getting RULES that Work

I trained as a coach with Tony Robbins' team and learned something invaluable for writers.

We often have too many rules. My rule of

"I can only write in the morning"

and my alleged fear of ghosts gives me a free pass in the evening to do something else. Which is fine. I can do something else, but better to phrase the statement as,

"I prefer to write in the morning...." rather than

"I can only write in the morning..."

This gives me more flexibility...like this little late afternoon session in Strasbourg, France. 

It's good to make your preferences, but be careful about establishing them as rules.

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