The Things Writers Do!

Rosanne's garden chair. Photo: Hugo Bouckaert

Known variously to be artistic, philosophical and perceptive, writers have a lot to live up to. People look up to writers, seeing them as knowledgable about language, books, and how things can best be phrased. Writers are asked how to spell things, how to best put a sentence, or what they think about books by other authors. They are asked to make speeches at gatherings, to chair meetings, and write newsletters for groups.

Often asked to write columns for local papers, they sometimes wonder whether all the extra work will perhaps extend their circle of readers: increase their exposure. Sometimes it does, and perhaps more online than anywhere else, so they blog, and guest blog, and comment on other blogs, and take part in group discussions.

When they should be taking a rest under a shady tree in the garden, chewing over a subplot in the cool evening, perhaps nursing a nice pre-dinner drink, they slave over their keyboard. And the chair stays empty.

Writers have no trouble with ideas: they occur naturally. Looking at a sunset over the Indian Ocean, or catching a cormorant in mid-flight is great inspiration, as is the image of a little boy looking up at an adult outside an ice-cream shop. What writer cannot derive a story from seeing a dog-walker trying to untangle the leashes of five or six different-sized dogs? Or a busker who looks down on his luck, eyeing the coins in his cup as he plays his violin?

All this could be contemplated at dusk, in the peaceful setting of a garden full of the scent of white flowers and the prospect of an olive harvest from a fruit-heavy tree. But there is too much to do. Blogs need to be composed and set out nicely, perhaps with accompanying pictures. Comments need to be entered on other blogs, in the hope of a spate of returns. An article or two would not go amiss, and a discussion might need starting in some group. So the chair stays empty.