None like the Present

American novelist and Nobel Prize Laureate, Sinclair Lewis, was invited to talk to some students about the craft of writing. Standing before the enthusiastic group of undergraduates, he asked: “How many of you here are really serious about being writers?” A sea of hands shot up. Lewis then asked, “Well, why aren't you all home writing?”


And he walked out of the room.

insert name

______, three-point-six kilograms at birth and avid economy-class traveller, has circled the globe approximately twelve times in search of controversy and bizarre coincidences. Having completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Print Media, she found herself irked by a pair of itchy feet back in her native Cape Town.  Since then, her luggage has included a single suitcase of her best clothes, a bottle of Evian and a permanent case of writer’s block. ____makes good window-seat company, loves in-flight food and is not afraid of turbulence. In her spare time she tries to cure her condition by reading novels, wallpapering and practices her vowels in the mirror. She continues to write, despite the jetlag, and can be frequently found slipping drafts underneath editors’ office doors.

I Need to Write for Me

Won't freeze when you say freeze.
Won't jump, let alone high.
Won't dance circles around good manners, or civility, or formality
If one expects to sit down and have nothing happen, there will be silence and nothing, indeed, will happen.
Stumble over stories that are itching to be told
for business, or pleasure, or morality.
I need to write, but not for you.
I need to write for me.

Can't please everybody. Tried too hard to do that, and it's gotten me nowhere.
                                       Can't please everybody, so please yourself.