Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Joseph Heller, perhaps best known for his novel Catch-22, wrote "in airports, on airplanes, between appointments."

"To me, writing is largely a matter of memorizing.  I will have in mind what I want to write, often to the extent of language, phrases and sentence structure.  I walk from where I live to where I write, and by the time I get there I know most of what I'm going to do in the next two hours."

Oh, the Advantage of the computer!

"My method of work is to get a very good idea of what I want to cover ~ assign a time percentage ~ and I will rewrite each page, then each few pages, moving ahead very slowly with the handwritten page.  When I finish a whole section I go back and type what I've rewritten.  That is an extensive rewriting process ~ largely with language; usually it will be taking out much and then getting new ideas to put in.  Then I'll read it again and pencil it and give it to a typist to type."

~ Interview with Lawrence Grobel, Endangered Species, Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives,  Da Capo Press, 2001.

Joseph Heller, American novelist (May 1 1923 - December 12, 1999)