Throughout my life, I have heard the following phrases: “You’re just so sensitive,” “Don’t be so sensitive,” “You’re too sensitive.” It was completely ingrained in me that this was a terrible trait, a character flaw, something I needed to “work on.” I don’t think the people who have said those things to me were trying — Read More
Tag: Writers
How I became a writer
A couple weeks ago, The Telegraph published an interesting essay by Haruki Murakami about how he became a novelist. Murakami says that he had something of an epiphany in 1978, while watching a baseball game–Yakult Swallows vs Hiroshima Carp. In his words: “In the bottom of the first inning, Hilton slammed Sotokoba’s first pitch into — Read More
Writers and their ailments
You probably thought this post would be about something like the anguish of writer’s block. But, no. I’m talking about actual ailments. Dr. John J. Ross of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital wrote a book called Shakespeare’s Tremor and Orwell’s Cough: The Medical Lives of Famous Writers. It’s a fascinating look at how diseases and — Read More