The thought that counts
What do writers think about? Words on paper, mostly, says Adrian Magson
A neighbour asked me recently over a shared bonfire if I was bunking off from having lofty thoughts of the deep and meaningful kind. I think it was her way of saying she hadn’t seen much of me lately and assumed I’d been locked in my garret.
True, I had been busy editing one book and writing another, so fresh air and I had not been as close as health fetishists like to dictate. (Not that standing over a bonfire was the best way to do it. However, I’ve been told to get out more and burning a pile of twigs and leaves does that and satisfies the latent arsonist in me.)
My neighbour’s comment echoed, I think, a common view of writers having permanently furrowed brows while composing in quiet solitude, with occasional languid strolls to the sofa with a glass of something refreshing to contemplate the ceiling. Little do they know that the furrowed brow comes from the same concerns experienced by everyone else… added to by the current WIP which might not be going so well and how much you get stung for a decent drink these days.