You know how Tom Cruise swings a bat to help him think in A Few Good Men? Well, here’s my secret: putty. Namely Silly Putty. I have a little red egg on my desk and I squeeze it in my hand when I talk on the phone. Sometimes, I roll the putty into a snake, coil it, mash it down. Sometimes, I press in into the surface of the egg so it imprints the writing. Sometimes I stretch it out as far as it can go, roll it up. It looks, then, like a rose or a part of the female anatomy. On that note, have a great weekend.
Filed under: Agent |
Betsy Lerner 
Silly Putty; we’re talking full disclosure here.
My secret: I write while walking on a treadmill. There’s a photo of my work station on my blog (see Bio). Sometimes my friends ask me how many words per mile I’m averaging.
Twist ties that close up bread packages. Endlessly entertaining.
I have a purple squeezy ball from Office Depot stashed behind my monitor. I can’t see it while I type, but if I need it, it’s there.
There’s not much more inspiring than thinking about Tom Cruise….However, when I’m stuck writing I go for a drive or a walk. I recently relocated to to Iowa and have discovered lots of new experiences in nature.
I run. Some of my best ideas, or solutions to problems with my writing, come to me while I run. I like the Silly Putty idea though. I’ll have to try that.
I give my dog Pete a cookie, take him for a walk, and remember that he is 17 years old, his hair is turning white, and he’s my friend. He even soothes me when my computer goes bonkers and I have to call the Geek Squad for 200 an hour and I;ve lost writing time!
Have you seen this? http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/
Yikes. That web site creeped me out a bit. It’s a little churchy. Plus threats to delete your comments if you veer toward politics or something offensive, etc. A couple months ago I was banned from Felicia Sullivan’s website for commenting to another commentor (is that a word?) that there was a little too much about hair products and fashion on that particular blog and did the other commentor have any suggestions for a blog that was a little more consistently committed to the subject at hand (writing, publishing, etc). Of course it was a disingenuous question. I was simply about to give a plug to my sister Betsy the next time I came back to the website to see if there was another comment in response to my comment. Bam! Busted!
Have you seen this? http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/10/embarrassing-books.html