Tools of The Trade

I still write all my novels on a Canon StarWriter JET 4000 word-processor. A word-processor is something that no one sells today because everyone wants to write on a computer.

I really admire Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. who did all his writing on a typewriter. Hemingway wrote in notebooks with a pencil. But, of course, they had editors and agents.

The picture below shows my writing room, a small upstairs bedroom in Snow Shoe, PA. The room has a nifty dormer with a southern exposure where I, unfortunately, had to put my computer and not the word-processor. I have to write with my nose to the wall and a cup of coffee on my left or I wouldn't get anything done.

I scribble notes throughout the day on pieces of paper and stick them on the wall in front of me with poster putty. When they have been incorporated into a novel they are moved to the wall on my right. Then they are boxed up with the original manuscript and floppy disks when I start the next novel.

When I write I like it quiet but when I do file maintenance I like to listen to NPR and especially to Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion and also to classic jazz music. This photo was taken when I was writing The Dreamer Never Sleeps.

I love to write and I don't mind rewriting but I despise marketing. Selling oneself is making the hardest sales pitch of all.

Author's Note: This photo is a scanned image of a Polaroid snapshot, taken long before I ever had a digital camera. That's why it looks blurry and faded.