ABOUT MY WORKING METHODS
My working methods are as mundane as I can manage to make them. I want a
room with no view. I want a door between me and the world. I want books
about and a pot of coffee. I want a bathroom close at hand and the phone
very far away. I want anything but fluorescent light.
So much for physical conditions. As for my state of mind: I need plenty
of time in which to stare at the wall and suck my thumb before turning to
the typewriter. I am much hindered when lacking the benefits conferred by
constant reading. I do not do well if recently flattered and instead work
best in the grip of resentful ambitions. Don't laugh, so did Dante.
In spite of such predilections, I try to work in whatever situation I find
myself. One must make a point of writing any place, or one ends up writing
nowhere at all.
--George Bradley
