An English professor by the name of Silas House wrote an opinion piece about writing in the New York Times entitled Art of Being Still. He begins by saying that most aspiring writers he knows “talk about writing more than they actually write.” He makes a list of what writers do instead: attend writing conferences, post Facebook statuses, get a bad case of creative block, etc. And then he talks about how what they should actually be doing is master the art of being still and just write. And then he uses himself as an example of someone who is always writing, even when he’s busy, he’s writing in his head; even when he’s doing every day tasks such as bicycling or grocery shopping. He ends with a piece of writing/life advice his old teacher told him (“discover something new every day”) and then addresses the reader by telling them he hopes they take his advice and get their mind focused to think like a writer.
This Silas dude sounded a bit self righteous to me, but it was funny because I was browsing the Times in the first place as a way to procrastinate on writing. So maybe he made a fair point. Just a thought.
Susan Eats the World 