Mark Twain, Truman Capote, and Marcel Proust were all inclined to lie down on the job when writing. They weren't lazy. Each of them was ambitious and prolific. Mark Twain scolded writers who complained about the difficulty of writing. He is quoted as saying, "Writing is the easiest thing in the world...Just try it in bed sometime. I sit up with a pipe in my mouth and a board on my knees, and I scribble away." Imagine how much more prolific Twain would have been with a computer on his knees!
Marcel Proust's housekeeper said that she'd never seen him write when he wasn't lying down. He didn't even use a pillow to prop himself up.Truman Capote had a ritual of writing everything in long-hand, then editing and copying it over in long-hand before ever transferring it to a typewriter. Revisions after the typed versions were typed on a special yellow paper. Capote wrote lying down while smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. Whew! No wonder he reclined to write. Just thinking about this routine makes me tired.
The opposite extreme from the writers who lie down to write are the ones who stand to write. Ernest Hemingway is said to have written A Moveable Feast at a stand-up desk.
Philip Roth claims he paces constantly when writing and that each page of his books represents about half a mile of walking. His Goodbye, Columbus would represent a 100-mile walk, but it did win a National Book Award, so perhaps it was worth the long walk.
Charles Dickens was also a stand-up writer, but when he needed inspiration, he became a walk-around author. He commented that when walking in Paris, his rambling walks always ended up at the Paris Morgue.
Writers sitting, reclining, standing, or walking? Another interesting consideration is clothing. There are writers who wear their pajamas or nightgowns while creating. The author of Cyranno de Bergerac, playwright Edmond Rostand, worked while in his bathtub. D. H. Lawrence sought inspiration by climbing trees when nude. This is one kink I don't recall reading about in his work.
During a spell of writer's block, Victor Hugo once gave his servant his clothes and had him lock Hugo in a room, forbidding the servant to let him out until he'd completed his day's writing goal. Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, frequently cured writer's block by hanging himself upside down in gravity boots.
What about you? What's your favorite position to write? Do you use any special kind of paper? What do you like to wear when writing? Any unusual rituals? Tell us about them.
What's that? You have a question?
Absoutely not! I have no intention of telling you where I'm writing this or what I'm wearing.
Until we meet again...take care of YOU!