Natalie Goldberg: Borrowing a Friend’s E-Cigarette

 Writing is like breathing to me, poet Pablo. Pablo Neruda told the Paris Review in 1971 that I cannot live without breathing, and I cannot live without writing." rdquo; For me, writing is not much like breathing, but more like flatulence in the stomach. It strikes suddenly and fickle, and if you try to forcibly exhaust, something terrible can happen.

  Neruda's words always make me envious of those who digest well, because I suffer from indigestion. If my enthusiasm and dedication to writing had to rely on my own respiratory system, I would have suffocated to death.   Thank God I'm not the only one. Although this is purely hearsay, all writers I know express the same chagrin. Writing is not an autonomous function of the brain's subconscious mind. When it is necessary to put words into writing, it is a job.   In the Q & A session of any writers 'meeting, someone will always ask: What are your writing habits? rdquo; This is a desperate and hopeful question. I understand because I have asked this question before. Imagine that you spent years trying to build your own cabinet but couldn't make it. One day, you go to a lecture by a cabinet master, and at the end of the speech you will definitely ask him how he made that damn cabinet.   Writers all have their own habits. Apart from religion (and perhaps grooming), nothing is as closely related to personal habits as writing. This is why writers 'creative habits have become a complete category of website content. Lost writers can easily find a vast list of the creative habits of their successful and productive colleagues online, as detailed as a manual. The subtext of the entire book of creative habits is the same: You need a habit, why not pick one of these habits and try it.   Recently I found that my own work habits are very similar to those of the president, but these habits are not included on those lists. According to reports, the president's official hours in the Oval Office should be from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. every day, but in fact he stays at his residence during that time, watching TV, making phone calls, and tweeting. rdquo;   I also like to indulge in official time. I go online as soon as I wake up in the morning, talk nonsense to my friends on GChat, and never write until the last moment. It's not a good habit, and for that matter, I'm no better than the big, angry old man in the White House.   I tried to develop my own habits, but I couldn't develop any habits. To make up for this, I had to make a different attempt. For a week, I would experience the creative habits of a different writer every day. I understand that changing your habits every day doesn't matter a habit at all, but what makes sense is that this process is like fitness. You do different exercises every day, and each exercise can make you stronger, faster and more flexible. Even if none of these habits end up becoming my lifelong habit, this week's harvest will still be worth reading about.   At least that was what I thought at the time.   Day 1: Haruki Murakami   The list of creative habits of the writers mentioned above states that the vast majority of successful writers wake up early and write first thing after getting up. This makes me even more embarrassed by my procrastination every morning.   To face this problem, I plan to first experience the creative habits of Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. This is what he said when introducing his creative habits to the Paris Review:   When writing novels, I would get up at 4 a.m. and write for five or six hours. In the afternoon I will go for a 10-kilometer run or a 1500-meter swim (or both), and then read and listen to music. I went to bed at 9 p.m.   I want to have some carpe diem or something, but 4:00 in the morning is too early. It's hard for me to get up at 7 a.m., so I have to set several alarms, one at 6:30, one at 6:45, and so on. My wife is very disgusted that my iPhone alarm rings repeatedly every morning (understandable), and if I set a series of alarms to go off from 3:30 a.m., she would kill me (understandable). I only have one chance.   By the time I woke up, the sun was already high. I don't remember turning off my phone alarm at 4 a.m., but I must have turned it off as soon as my phone alarm went off in the middle of the night. It's already 9:52, which means that I'm already four hours behind Mr. Murakami. At this pace, I will never be able to write my own "Strange Bird Records".   I tried to write something, but because I had more or less still not gotten rid of my original rhythm, I was stuck in the quagmire of swiping Twitter and watching basketball game highlights videos. After wasting five hours holding my laptop in vain, I went for a 10-kilometer run.   Regarding running, Murakami wrote in his memoirs: What was I thinking while running? I don't know.& rdquo;   But I knew exactly what I was thinking when I was running. I was thinking: How great it would be if I could stop! But I still forced myself to finish the 10-kilometer race, which felt pretty good. Unfortunately, this happy mood was fleeting. After I got home, I reviewed the results of my morning's work, and it was just a handful.   Words created: 286   Basketball game highlights videos viewed: 8   Day two: Franz. Franz Kafka   If you are not efficient in the morning, will it improve if you do the opposite? For the rule that writers generally get up early to write, Franz. Franz Kafka was an exception, but he was also involuntarily. Because of his full-time job at an insurance company, Kafka couldn't write until 11 p.m. After 11 o'clock, he would write to one o'clock, two o'clock, or three o'clock in the morning based on his physical strength, will, and luck, and once even write to six o'clock in the morning. rdquo;   After failing to copy Murakami's creative habits, I let myself sleep solidly all night. Because I didn't have to write until late at night the next day, I didn't set the alarm. I can enjoy my official time without guilt, and for the sake of being with Franz. Kafka kept the same pace as the insurance assessor, and I also made sure that my day was boring and dull. It was quite interesting.   But by 11 p.m., I was dying. Just staying awake exhausted me, and staring at the white and empty screen made me yawn and sleepy. After writing a few sentences (many of which didn't even have a verb), I gave up just after midnight and rolled back into bed. If I woke up the next morning and turned into a huge insect, I would have deserved it.   Creation words: 95   Day three: Maya. Maya Angelou   1517306976479979.jpg December 15, 1992, writer and poet Maya. Maya Angelou is in Washington, D.C. Photography: Dudley. M? Dudley M. Brooks)/Washington Post Photo source: Getty Images.   Maya. Maya Angelou has a very tight schedule, but what I find most interesting is her ability to create an environment conducive to writing:   “I have had a hotel room in every city I have lived in. I will rent this room for several months, leave at 6 a.m. every morning, and try to get there before 6:30 to start working. While writing, I lay across the bed, and then the skin around this elbow hardens and develops calluses. I never ask hotels to change the sheets because I never sleep there and I insist they take everything off the wall and leave nothing behind. Every time I walk into that room, I feel as if all my thoughts have stopped. rdquo;   It is impossible to spend money to rent a hotel room for a long time on the income of a freelance writer. There is only one motel near my house that offers a daily rental rate of less than $90. Before calling to book, I looked at their Yelp reviews. The only comment read: No matter how chaotic it is, whether it is drug abuse or murder, their manager turns a blind eye to anything, even if a woman is stabbed to death there, he will not lift his eyes!" rdquo;   Although this motel will definitely provide me with plenty of exciting writing material, I chose to experience Maya in my own home. Angelo's hotel experience. It's not difficult to find a room as close as possible to the kind of room she described: as long as it's empty and allows all my thoughts to pause. Sounds like my bathroom.   I sat on the toilet and wrote for three hours. The convenience of this place is obvious, and if my legs hadn't gone numb, I would continue to type happily on the keyboard. As long as I stay in the bathroom for a long time, my dog becomes distracted and its whimpers distract me. But as long as a gap is left in the bathroom door, this problem can be solved.   I finally achieved a little success.   Words created: 1015   Day 4: Honore. De. Honor de Balzac   Balzac is a very strange person. He would go to bed at 6 p.m., like a chick, and then get up at 1 a.m. and start writing. Since I'm not even Franz. Kafka's creative progress cannot keep up, so it is even more impossible to keep up with Balzac's rhythm. I was more interested in his coffee-drinking habits. Legend has it that Balzac drinks more than 50 cups of coffee a day.   It makes sense, then, that Balzac is known for the quantity rather than the quality of his work. But as Stalin said, quantity itself is quality. After three consecutive days of low efficiency, I was particularly looking forward to having a good time after drinking coffee, even if it meant I might die of caffeine poisoning (which was said to be the cause of Balzac's death).   I drank two espresso shots as soon as I got up. After finishing the coffee in the French press pot, I went to a cafe that provided free refills. Imported through Fair Trade, the coffee brewed locally roasted and ground flowed through my body, allowing me to start writing immediately.   But other effects of coffee also began to show. My thighs involuntarily twitched violently, attracting the attention of customers at the next table in the cafe. Coupled with my frequent entry and exit of the bathroom, others must think I was annoying.   Because I was afraid that someone would steal my laptop, I took it with me every time I went to the bathroom. But it takes a long time for this stupid computer to restart every time, even if it is just awakened from sleep mode. Repeatedly going in and out of the bathroom has reduced the efficiency of both my computer and me. I'm going crazy.   I had already drunk three cups of coffee (not including the morning espresso and French press coffee) and I was about to collapse. I walked around the cafe to calm down, and when I came back, I found that my seat had been taken. Who does this psychopath think he is? As I imagined defending myself on the grounds of caffeine in the upcoming murder trial, I calmed down and advised myself that writing at home could be just as efficient.   Of course, I passed out as soon as I entered the house. For the rest of the day, I could only moor in bed with the curtains closed. Balzac is such a psychopath.   Creation words: 1230 (only about 300 words are reliable)   Coffee drunk: Five cups, two espresso   Day 5: Don. Don DeLillo   I think Don. Don DeLillo is the greatest living American novelist, but his creative habits are not inspiring to me:   “I write on the typewriter for about four hours every morning, and then go for a run. This helped me break free from the world in my head and enter another world. Trees, birds, and drizzle are a very good relief. I'll write for another two or three hours later in the afternoon. After that, reading time would pass quickly, and I would not eat snacks, drink coffee or smoke. Writers should sincerely retain their loneliness and then express this loneliness in endless ways. During writing, I would look out the window and open a random page of the dictionary to read for a while. When I can't write anymore, I look at photos of Jorge Luis Borges.& rdquo;   I don't have a typewriter, and to make up for this, I make myself type on the computer without deleting a single character under any circumstances. The habit of pressing the backspace button is a muscular memory, and not letting me touch it drives me crazy. I couldn't write anymore as soon as I came up. I stared at Borges's photo for a while, but it was useless at all. I searched for other photos of him and looked at them, but they still didn't work. This put me in writing trouble for several hours, and for some reason I started reading the revealing lens page in the IMDb film and television materials of "Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise".   Delillo's writing style didn't help me much with my writing, but I did learn something. ldquo; When Alpha Betas forced the Lambdas brothers to take off to their underwear, I saw Lewis wearing white briefs, and when they took a ride back to the Hotel Coral Essex five hours later, he was wearing longer, less revealing shorts, but the movie doesn't explain why." rdquo;   Creation words: 410   Day six: Natalie. Natalie Goldberg   Writer Natalie. Natalie Goldberg has written a large number of books about writing, and her books are full of writing techniques and tricks. In "Writing Down the Bones", Goldberg suggests using props to expand your awareness:   “A small prop can often take your thoughts elsewhere. When I sit down to write, I often have a cigarette in my mouth. If you were in a non-smoking cafe, the cigarette would not light. I don't really smoke anyway, so it doesn't matter whether I light it or not. Cigarettes are just a prop that helps me travel into the other world. If I actually smoked, it wouldn't work so well. You have to do something you don't usually do. rdquo;   Cigarette prices in my California state are ridiculously high, and I feel a little reluctant to buy an entire pack just to try Goldberg's approach. I instead borrowed a friend's e-cigarette and sat in the cafe with it in my mouth. I look like an idiot. When the psychological burden of feeling like a silly boy reached a certain level, I walked outside the cafe and smoked the e-cigarette as hard as I could until I felt that I was about to faint.   I didn't travel to another world. I didn't even make it to the smoking area. I could only lie on the ground.   Creation words: 680   Day 7: William. William Gibson   Science fiction writer William. William Gibson's schedule is too reasonable to be personal:   “When writing a book, I get up at 7 a.m., check my email and go online, just like people usually do these days. Then I would have a cup of coffee. Three days a week I go to Pilates and go home at ten or eleven o'clock. After that I would sit down and try to write something. If I can't write anything, I'll mow the lawn. But generally, if you sit down and try hard, you will definitely be able to start writing. When I come back from lunch break, I will write for a while more. Then I usually go for a nap, which is crucial in my creative process. I don't dream when I take a nap. I just seem to be asleep and my brain remains awake.& rdquo;   I had never done Pilates before, but I signed up for a hip and belly fat burning class at a nearby gym.“” A fitness instructor wearing a wireless microphone is like giving a TED Talk, even though there are only five of us huddled together to exercise. The Pilates exerciser is a complex instrument with ropes, wheels and handles and I can understand why science fiction writers would love it. ——   Although my butt was sore after exercise, I still managed to write something smoothly.   Words created: 1,228   Day eight: Hunt. Hunter S. Thompson Thompson）   When a week of creative life experience as a great writer was coming to an end, I couldn't stop. By imitating the creative methods of those writers, I feel that I should not be responsible for my own failure and should blame Haruki Murakami and others, not me. In order to extend this experience further, I found a writer's creative schedule to imitate.   Hunter. S? Hunter S. Dr. Thompson's creative habits are probably the most notorious in history (if that's a compliment). According to his biographer E? Jane. Carol E. Dr. Jean Carroll said Thompson's day started with a glass of Chivas whisky at 3 p.m. He kept himself energized by constantly smoking cocaine and some hallucinogens.   I deliberately chose this creative schedule because I knew I couldn't follow it. Damn it, even he himself couldn't follow this. Even so, his habit still taught me something. No matter how much powder he takes or how many chocolate bars he eats in the tub, Hunter. Thompson always finds time to write. This is true because he has published many books.   I decided not to indulge myself in binge drinking and instead adopt my favorite creative habit as long as it gave me time to write. So I signed myself up for another Pilates class, and then I prepared the bathroom at home so that I could have an intensive writing session there after I exercised.# p #pagination title #e #