A few days ago I brought you some of these 10 true and false myths about writers, and one of them resided in the artist's solitude, in that parallel dimension in which only we live and that (except for another writer) few will be able to understand. However, not everything is bad or depressing in that patch of loneliness, but rather the opposite. Do you also promote any of these following pleasures only writers appreciate?
You, a notebook and a coffee shop
People look at us strangely as we pass by and only those who appreciate the pleasure of writing (better in a notebook than on a computer) will approach you to tell you that he does too. He will tell you smiling, as if saying that "we are misunderstood." Because yes, few pleasures are as good for a writer as sitting on the terrace of a cafeteria (it may already be one from your neighborhood like one in Cuba or San Francisco) and giving free rein to words.
Night inspiration
Another option that writers usually like is write at nightWe don't know why, perhaps because as the stars fall, everyone becomes more poetic, more mysterious, because inspiration is like an owl that sleeps during the day and begins to flow when the lights are dimmer. Then comes that next day when we read what we write under the influence of one (or more) glasses of wine. But that is another story.
Have a good idea
At that precise moment when you are about to lie down and close your eyes, your mind begins to wander and suddenly there it is: that great idea, that quote, that argument that you need to freeze somehow in the real world. And in a hurry you get up, look for a pen and paper (or the mobile notepad, failing that) and write everything that your muses have whispered to you at the most unexpected moment. Then you close your eyes again, but you know you've just opened Pandora's box.
To read a good book
Any writer must read to improve or perfect their art, something I think most of us agree on. Even so, sometimes it is worth pointing out the difference between a book that we like and one from which we can extract ideas or new perspectives. Checking that other ways of telling a story are possible can completely reinvent the way we express our ideas.
Finish what you started
Whether it is a poetry, a short story or a novel, few pleasures for a writer are as satisfying as the fact of finishing that work in which he was immersed for so long. From then on another stage begins, one in which pleasures and disappointments go hand in hand but that you must face with all the illusion in the world.
See your published book
The Cuban poet José Martí He once said that "there are three things that each person should do during his life: plant a tree, write a book and have a child." A quote that reaffirms the beauty of creation and, which despite not having complied with the letter yet, I can support that inexplicable moment in which you publish a book. A part of you enclosed in a book, with its own cover, ready to make a mark (no matter how small) in the world. And that is wonderful.
A reader's first opinion
So much effort begins to pay off, and the first sign comes in the form of a positive opinion or review in which someone claims to have read your book and recommends it to other people; the ice has broken and another new adventure begins. And is that every author needs feedback, whether good or bad, to appreciate the quality of a work, define the direction to follow but, especially, confirm the need to believe in what we do.
Certain smells
That of an old book, that of that newer one, that of pencils and paper, that of an old bookstore, that which, unexpectedly, transports you to childhood and opens a floodgate in you to new ideas.