“ I loathe computers more and more, so I have one I can shut down and shelve like a book. ”
A creative life cannot be sustained by approval any more than it can be destroyed by criticism.
~ Will Self
Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes, unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.
Regard yourself as a small corporation of one. Take yourself off on team-building exercises (long walks). Hold a Christmas party every year at which you stand in the corner of your writing room, shouting very loudly to yourself while drinking a bottle of white wine. Then masturbate under the desk. The following day you will feel a deep and cohering sense of embarrassment.
You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.
