Do It in Private

"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."
   - Robert Heinlein

One time, when I was working on my first novel, I went to a coffee shop and wrote in public. Writing was still new to me; I didn't know what I didn't know. So I go to this place, sit with latte and laptop, and enter the fictitious world of my story, where my hero had goals, obstacles to overcome to achieve those goals, a love interest, an antagonist with competing goals, and a character arc that was only half of a rainbow.

As I got into the story, I got out of the present. I saw the story as it unfolded in my mind, grinning through one whole scene, smiling at a twist in plot, raising my arms in wonder, laughing out loud at the irony, and stopping once to have a drink of the latte. The cup was full. The drink was cold.

In their furtive glances, I realized that the people in the coffee shop were thinking what Robert Heinlein said in his quotation. "[Write] in private." As for washing my hands afterwards? Let's just say I write in a much cleaner genre.




© 2010 Steven R. Lundin, all rights reserved