Ernest Hemingway once said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Stephen King’s approach to writing is completely different than Hemingway’s. King may write about a person who sits at a typewriter and bleeds, but he doesn’t see writing itself as a torturous process. He believes that writing should be fun—that, in his words, a writer should get a “buzz” from writing.
For many years, I embraced the cliché of the tortured artist who bleeds for their work—until I experienced the true torture of darkness and addiction. In recovery, I realized that I could use pain and darkness to fuel my writing. And Stephen King taught me, through his books and seminars, about how much fun writing can be. About not taking myself too seriously when I sit down to do it. I’m not trying to bring peace to the Middle East or provide a panacea for the world’s ills. I’m just writing—I can always delete or edit.
Stephen King often talks about how he discovered the fun of writing—in the clues of his childhood. As a child, he loved reading, writing, and scaring his brother. Now, he loves reading, writing, and scaring as many people as he can through his books. When I look at my childhood, I see clues, too. As a kid, I loved reading and writing. I loved learning new words. And one day, those loves came together in a magnificent way when I discovered the Lillian Vernon catalog in a stack of my parents’ mail. I began reading it, standing at the kitchen counter, then took it to my room and read every word. I wanted to buy everything in that catalog because every item was so vividly described.
I don’t think my mom got to see many Lillian Vernon catalogs when I was growing up. As soon as they came, I squirreled them away in my room and hid them the way an adolescent boy might hide . . . well, the underwear section of the Sears catalog. I loved the Sears and J. C. Penney’s catalogs, too, but they had big glossy pictures to go with every item they were selling. Lillian Vernon didn’t; they sold items with words and small, sometimes hand-drawn pictures. I would cover up the pictures, then read the descriptions and see if my mental image matched the pictures. And it did. That’s how good those copywriters were—they could make a little girl yearn for a desk organizer or monogrammed tote bag.
I was also in love with books at this time in my life. But I despaired of ever being able to write a book like “Anne of Green Gables” or “Little Women.” I didn’t know how a writer could invent a whole world, then write about it in a way that made it come alive for readers. Lillian Vernon catalogs, on the other hand, made writing accessible. Those little paragraphs of description seemed possible to my eight-year-old self. For a while, I copied their style, writing down descriptions of everything in my room. It was a far cry from Louisa May Alcott, I knew, but I felt a thrill when I did it—a little skip in my heartbeat as I imagined someone reading my words and wanting to buy what I was selling.
Those catalogs were my gateway to writing. I got hooked on the thrill and the skipped heartbeat. I started writing poems about birds and trees and my cat, Perdita. I wrote short stories about a poor little girl whose brother used her as a dodgeball target, a catcher’s mitt, and a Tee-ball tee. I wrote a novel about pioneers fighting Native Americans. Every few days, I’d leave handwritten pages on my dad’s desk for him to read. And he did, making notes with suggestions and encouragement. I began to think that I might be good at writing. And the words came faster and my heart beat faster as I filled up legal pad after legal pad.
Somewhere along the way, I lost that thrill. The fun. The buzz. I found the buzz elsewhere and almost ruined all my dreams of writing. I’ve only recently rediscovered it. Sometimes when I’m writing, and the words match my vision just like the pictures matched the words in the Lillian Vernon catalogs, I get so carried away with the fun of it that I lose all track of time. I go down the rabbit hole of writing and when I come out, it takes me a few minutes to focus and re-orient myself to the real world. When I do, I think, that was so much fun!
Life should be like that. It should give us a buzz. We should get so carried away by the fun of it that we lose track of time and feel our hearts skipping beats. We should be high on life—on the sheer adventure of living in this big beautiful world with the people we love. I am. Day after day. Even though I’m not a copywriter for Lillian Vernon. I’m still writing—and with every word, I’m hoping that you’ll buy what I’m selling, be it a different way of thinking or a new way of looking at the world.
In the late eighties, there was a popular phrase that my sisters perfected in its sarcasm and implied eye-rolling—Are we having fun yet? That’s my question to myself when I sit down to write. When Monty and I are driving down the highway and a Van Halen song comes on. When I send my mom a GIF of a bird shaking its head no in response to every text she sends me because I know she likes that weird bird (and her weird daughter). Am I having fun yet? Yes. A million times yes.
“People think that I must be a very strange person.
This is not correct. I have the heart of a
small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk.”
Stephen King
Share this Post
Comments 8
Your thirst for words is wonderful, extending even to devouring catalogs! That I can understand; I always read everything — milk cartons, cereal boxes, whatever was at hand. But teaching was my foremost passion; the things that God has gifted us with are just so natural, aren’t they. Loved the Stephen King quote — what a sense of humor! I used to think he was too dark, and that I didn’t want to read his books, but now I’ve read a few, and can see that he has a tremendous understanding of humans. Thanks for a delightful look at your past, Renee.
Thank you, Heather! I do love words but the thought of teaching fills my introvert soul with horror. I’m grateful that there are people like you who are gifted with that. Stephen King does have a great sense of humor and, as you said, a true understanding of people. I’ve read everything of his except the ones that dabble in the supernatural. One of my favorite things about his books is that they’re so long! Thanks for reading my words and for your comment. I so appreciate it.
I love this! I can just imagine you as a little girl describing everything in your room for a catalog. Come to think of it, you still do that. 🙂 I love getting buzzed on life with you!
I do still do that! Sadly, the Lillian Vernon catalog is full of big pictures now. Thanks for being the consistent buzz–since we were 16. ❤
I really enjoy your post showing us how you just evolved in to a writer (very good writer I might add😊).
I have often wondered if God starts guiding us in the direction He wants us to at a very early age and your experience proves it. Your love of words your reading and writing that’s all God given, God has you right were He wants you to be telling others of your experience.
I have experience this giddiness in my on live, had trouble learning to read, had to go to special summer schools to learn to but reading finally became a lot easier for me and I am a better reader and a lot faster now I can enjoy reading, spelling is still a struggler, thank thank the good Lord for spell check 😀.
My folks gave a toy printing press for my birthday one year and I actually spent a lot of time learning to use it, I just took to printing like a duck to water and before long I was able to print hand bills and business cards for people in the neighborhood and hand bills for my paper route to get lawn mowing jobs and snow shoveling jobs, it was fun just from a little toy printing press. Later on through a friend I feel into a printing job which lasted all most 50 years. The job wasn’t really my doing after high school I was just laying around and didn’t care what I did I really believe it was my moms prayers that got me in a real job.
Renee you are so blessed with a great talent and you are using it for the greater good and there is great need with all the drug problems (I saw on the internet that there will be more deaths from drug over doses and than traffic deaths this year in the US (your doctor “feel good” should be so proud). So anything we can all do to stop or slow this down needs to be done.
I have two chihuahua puppies telling me it’s time to go out side, so I had better put their coats on get them out doors (they love it, really not so much). Keep up the great work, you are doing and awesome job😇.
Love,
Grover
Grover–I just loved reading your comment. I loved your story of the toy printing press (I really want one of those!) and the way you used it to print cards for the customers on your paper route. You were an enterprising kid! And for you to end up in a printing job–how cool and what evidence of God at work in your life. Thank you for what you said about using my writing for a greater good. I’m trying–with all my heart, I’m trying. So thank you for seeing that. And thank you for sharing this story with me. Also thank you for telling me about your chihuahuas in coats–I bet that’s adorable and I liked picturing it. Thank you for your very kind words. They mean so much to me. Love to you.
Good morning Sparrow. Great title, “Buzzed”, Hemingway described as a ‘revolutionary man”, fighter, writer, lover, maybe tortured towards the end of his life. King, on the other hand, his movies strange, scary, bizarre, but, as he said he must have the mind of a small child, getting Joy, in react8ns from his brother, his readers, and his viewers. You bleed, You buzz, You, as a young child, developed your writing, obviously through your thirst for words. That, really shines through in all your Blogs. You find joy in catalogs, your songs singing with Monty, and yes, your ‘dark and tortured moments”. I repeat, you write with such, heart, depth I; your soul, despair, it translates beautiful in you4 Blog, not that your pai; is beautiful, but Ivan always “get the complete picture. Your thoughts, sincere, no5 preachy. My interests as a youth, and throughout my life, Baseball, facts and figures, reading baseball books, magazines, and the backs of my Topps or Fleers baseball cards, and I have blessed with a “retentive mind”, Mother would always say if you spent half your t8n3 on school studies, you “would be honor roll every semester. Finally, life should be fun, so much so, yiu dont ‘t put “the clock” to it. It flies by, wha5 a ‘blast”.Lastly, Have always liked that”Cyndy Lauper tune”, always amazed by he4 “multi hair color also”. Keep on blogging, keep on fueling our imaginations, make our t8me, “fly by”, giving us no t8me for self pity, hopelessness. Sparrow, that is what your writing does fir me, Splendid, indeed. See ya, TexGen
TexGen–you made me so happy with your response. You “get” me–the darkness, the pain, and ultimately, the joy. I like seeing how your interests as a child with baseball and music led you to where you are today, sharing that love with your peeps. It makes me smile to think of your mother saying that to you–that’s a vivid picture, for sure! I know you’re someone who does indeed make life fun, no matter what you’re doing. Finally, thank you for making this writer very, very happy by saying that my words fuel your imagination and give you no time for self pity. What a high compliment from you–and my goal as a writer, always. Thank you so very much for your words, my friend. ❤