Re: nbc: favorite book of all time

On Jun 9, 10:16 pm, Patrick1...@xxxxxxx wrote:
On Jun 10, 1:09�am, RJW <robwh...@xxxxxxx> wrote:

To say that I'm humbled to have my book mentioned in such august
company would be a severe understatement - thanks Adam.

Robert,  being an author as you are,  I need some suggestions.  I have
several projects on the back burner... that I have never been able to
get off the ground.   What do you suggest as motivation for getting
the ball rolling, in your experiences ?

I'm usually inclined to think of this as a flip answer, but having
heard Salman Rushdie say the same thing tonight to a similar question
I'm giving it a little more credence: if you can do anything else, you
probably should. Writing should be its own intrinsic reward -- there
are precious few rewards even for the most renowned writers (this is,
however, coming from a guy who was married to Pashme whatever her name
is, so take it with the appropriate salt). I tend to agree with him,
though -- if it's a story you have to tell, then you'll tell it -- the
work itself will be its own reward, ultimately. It has to be. I say
that I joke that I'm fundamentally ill-equipped for anything else: not
so much a joke, at the heart of it.

That being said, routine is, in itself, a pretty significant
motivator, at least for me. I get up at 3.30 every morning -- I'm at
the desk by 4. And when I'm there, I work -- on the rare mornings
where I need a reason, the fact that I'm up at that time inclines me
to make the most of it, to justify the sacrifice and the sheer
brutality of how I've chosen to live my life. A good morning of
writing makes the sacrifices worthwhile (a bad morning's writing, on
the other hand, makes me want to open a vein. And there are a fair
few bad mornings).

(To say that there are no external motivations is a lie, of course.
You don't want to rely on them -- and they don't go too far at 4 am --
but things like that post by Adam do serve to motivate one. And the
look that you sometimes see in the eye of a reader when you meet them
-- or during a reading -- where you can feel the connection that your
work has made? I'd be lying if I said that didn't serve to motivate
me. Especially if that reader happens to be a beautiful young
woman... to see yourself reflected in her eyes, the best possible
version of yourself? It's like a drug -- you just want more, and the
only way to get more is to make the next work better than the last.
Call me shallow -- or sexist -- but this writing thing is full of
failure and self-doubt. To see that you've touched someone? It's
like cocaine, but without the pesky nosebleeds.)
.

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