"Lynne Tillman (Someday This Will Be Funny, No Lease on Life): Anxiety and compulsion propel me. First, compulsion, then anxiety, or anxiety then compulsion. Depression is no help, no use. I don’t want to die, so I feel compelled to do something. These neuroses familiarly push me out of bed, and I walk toward the kitchen, and on the way I glance at my computer. I boil water and make a pot of very strong English tea; while it steeps, I slap my face with cold water. With my favorite tea mug in my hand, I walk toward my computer and turn it on. I do this casually, as if I weren’t doing it. This is counter phobic behavior. Then I might say to myself, I’m just going to look at what I’ve already written, or if there is nothing written, I tell myself, I just have to write one line, or I just have to sit at the computer for ten minutes. Anyone can sit in front of a screen for ten minutes. Sometimes I put a CD in the computer, something that might rouse me, Aaron Copeland or Marvin Gaye. Sometimes I can’t find the music I think might help me. Then I worry that nothing can help me. And so on." ▼
Super Sad True Habits of Highly Effective Writers: Part Two | Tin House
