Many writers have been in training for months for the annnual Literary Triathlon. Burgess Vanderwort says, "I read the complete works of Anthony Trollope twice and did weight-training with the novels of James Michener. I am now sharpening one hundred H2B pencils to a lethal point."
Edith Buglethorpe says, "I followed the advice of my personal trainer and started gradually, writing words of one syllable. I worked up to sentences, then paragraphs, but hit the wall at the novella. But now, with a keg of Faulkner bourbon and an oxygen tank beside me, I'm ready to go."
3-Day contestants are free to write wherever they wish. Some write in tree houses, some in bus depots, some in public rest rooms. Some have taken on unusual challenges. Farley Wotherspoon, for example, has elected to write his novel in rhymed couplets. Amos Dooville plans to write his backward, in the manner of Leonardo da Vinci's mirror writing. "I may not win," he says, "but the judges will remember me."
We wish them all luck. Load up on the benzedrine and industrial strength coffee, and get your call in to Muses 'R Us.
Go, Mr. PD, Go!
ReplyDelete