4 Comments »

1. I finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury today since my freshmen will be reading and discussing it in the coming weeks. In his afterword, Bradbury admitted something I thought the two remaining participants may find interesting:

   “Finally, I located just the place, the typing room in the basement of the library at the University of California at Los Angeles. There, in neat rows, were a score or more of old Remington or Underwood typewriters which rented out at a dime a half hour. You thrust your dime in, the clock ticked madly, and you typed wildly, to finish before the half hour ran out. Thus I was twice driven; by children to leave home, and by a typewriter timing device to be a maniac at the keys. Time was indeed money. I finished the first draft in roughly nine days. At 25,000 words, it was half the novel it eventually would become.”

   So, nine days and 25,000 words, which is just under an average 2,800 words per day. While I realize that Bradbury was probably well into his career as a professional writer by this time, it kind of lets you realize that, given the right motivation, remarkable things are possible.

   Keep up the good work.

   [Reply]

   Comment by christopher. — March 25, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

   ---

2. Indeed, remarkable things are possible. Perhaps at the risk of burn-out, but they’re possible.

   Actually that story’s pretty inspiring, considering he could only type during business hours, etc. I’m sure the $1.60 per day (assuming 8 hours) didn’t break his bank too much, :) but there’s a deadline which motivated him to do more.

   A surprising number of people who do NaNoWriMo write the remaining 40,000 words of the total 50k in the last THREE days.

   There must be something to the urgency of knowing that something is due; I know I used to do all the typing and research for my essays and book reports the day before. …

   Thanks for sharing that anecdote, I appreciate it :)

   [Reply]

   Comment by Nick Enlowe — March 26, 2009 @ 9:56 am

   ---

3. Many a time have I felt the same way, when the drive is a balance of available time, a ticking clock and the haphazard nature of a child’s personality.

   [Reply]

   Comment by RG Sanders — March 26, 2009 @ 2:43 pm

   ---

4. btw, I never got the chance to read Fahrenheit 451 :(

   [Reply]

   Comment by Nick Enlowe — March 26, 2009 @ 8:19 pm

   ---

Leave a comment