Post by theravenking on May 9, 2017 15:51:20 GMT
news.nationalpost.com/afterword/richard-ford-rules
1 Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.
2 Don’t have children.
3 Don’t read your reviews.
4 Don’t write reviews. (Your judgment’s always tainted.)
5 Don’t have arguments with your wife in the morning, or late at night.
6 Don’t drink and write at the same time.
7 Don’t write letters to the editor. (No one cares.)
8 Don’t wish ill on your colleagues.
9 Try to think of others’ good luck as encouragement to yourself.
10 Don’t take any shit if you can possibly help it.
Says Ford:
“The first rule is a rule for people other than writers. Marry somebody you love. If you can do that, you’ve probably spirited yourself onto a much better life than you’d otherwise have. So many young writers that I know marry someone who sort of feels like the clock is ticking on the enterprise of writing for his or her mate or spouse. That was never the case for Kristina. She always said to me ‘I’m going to work because I want to have a career. Now you write, and basically take forwever if you want to.’ She didn’t care. So that freed me from all kinds of responsibilities, it freed me from all kinds of worries, it freed me from all kinds of excuses. I was worried about having excuses for failing.”
And children?
“I just don’t like children very much. I don’t like being around them. And why should I bring any into the world so they can discover that for themselves? I’m happy for others to have children.”
But isn’t having children one of the fundamental life experiences, one of that every writer should go through?
“I had a childhood! Why would I need to experience someone elses. I remember mine all too vividly. And mine was a good one. I had loving parents and no siblings and a cogent, stable home life. Couldn’t have been better really. So I felt like I would never be able to replicate that for some poor innocent that I would bring into the world. And I didn’t think Kristina and I were really — we were too pre-occupied with each other. We moved around because we could. It isn’t as though we could moved around the way we did if we’d had little hostages with us. We did that because we were free to do that, and wanted to do that very much. Children bring with them, with all their other adorable qualities, they bring financial responsibilities. And I didn’t want those! I didn’t want to have responsibilities that were going to take me away from the essential thing that I thought my life was about: trying to be a writer.”
2 Don’t have children.
3 Don’t read your reviews.
4 Don’t write reviews. (Your judgment’s always tainted.)
5 Don’t have arguments with your wife in the morning, or late at night.
6 Don’t drink and write at the same time.
7 Don’t write letters to the editor. (No one cares.)
8 Don’t wish ill on your colleagues.
9 Try to think of others’ good luck as encouragement to yourself.
10 Don’t take any shit if you can possibly help it.
Says Ford:
“The first rule is a rule for people other than writers. Marry somebody you love. If you can do that, you’ve probably spirited yourself onto a much better life than you’d otherwise have. So many young writers that I know marry someone who sort of feels like the clock is ticking on the enterprise of writing for his or her mate or spouse. That was never the case for Kristina. She always said to me ‘I’m going to work because I want to have a career. Now you write, and basically take forwever if you want to.’ She didn’t care. So that freed me from all kinds of responsibilities, it freed me from all kinds of worries, it freed me from all kinds of excuses. I was worried about having excuses for failing.”
And children?
“I just don’t like children very much. I don’t like being around them. And why should I bring any into the world so they can discover that for themselves? I’m happy for others to have children.”
But isn’t having children one of the fundamental life experiences, one of that every writer should go through?
“I had a childhood! Why would I need to experience someone elses. I remember mine all too vividly. And mine was a good one. I had loving parents and no siblings and a cogent, stable home life. Couldn’t have been better really. So I felt like I would never be able to replicate that for some poor innocent that I would bring into the world. And I didn’t think Kristina and I were really — we were too pre-occupied with each other. We moved around because we could. It isn’t as though we could moved around the way we did if we’d had little hostages with us. We did that because we were free to do that, and wanted to do that very much. Children bring with them, with all their other adorable qualities, they bring financial responsibilities. And I didn’t want those! I didn’t want to have responsibilities that were going to take me away from the essential thing that I thought my life was about: trying to be a writer.”
