"Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing. For instance, the previous sentence was written at one o’clock this afternoon. It is now a quarter to four. I have spent the past two hours and forty-five minutes sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word “paisly” in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name on The New York Times Atlas of the World map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems to be so difficult on my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, cutting that and other interesting articles out of the newspaper, sorting—by width—all the interesting articles I’ve cut out of newspapers recently, fastening them neatly together with paper clips and making a very attractive paper clip necklace and bracelet set, which I will present to my girlfriend as soon as she comes home from the three-hour low-impact aerobic workout that I made her go to so I could have some time alone to write.”
— P. J. O’Rourke
The Wit and Wisdom of P.J. O'RourkeHappy writing!
Carolyn Arends
www.carolynarends.com
www.feedthelake.com
3 comments:
Oh-oh! If I might personalize, Carolyn: I identify wa-a-y-y too much with P.J.'s easy distraction and procrastination. That said, I wouldn't have spent time looking up 'paisly' since I would have spelled it right - 'Paisley' (I'd been to Paisley, Scotland, many times in the '50s and '60s).
Thanks for the fun read and peek into this writer's mirror.
"Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing." And usually, writers can take anything—even their habits of procrastination—and create something.
thanks for the chuckles. :)
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