Cindy La Ferle’s Home Officea window on the writing life

Advice to Writers

Cindy on February 3rd, 2010

The more you clean, the more brilliant your writing will be.” — Billy Collins

Last week I shared Jane Hirshfield’s “The Poet” (about a writer at her desk), and in the comment section we all compared notes on where we do our own creative projects.

Writers are inherently messy — in a good way. We save scraps of paper scribbled with notes and ideas. We collect more pens and blank journals than we’ll ever use. And when we’re in the middle of editing an article or composing a poem, we litter and trash our workspace. But I’m not convinced that’s what Billy Collins is talking about in the poem below.

It’s open to interpretation, of course, but I like to think Collins is playing with the idea of clearing the mind to make room for fresh ideas. Each time I begin a new project or assignment, for example, I need to push past my fears, self-imposed limits, and creative road blocks.

Or maybe Collins is talking about writing rituals — the small acts we must perform (procrastination?) before we can lift our “yellow pencil.”  What do you think? In any event, I think you’ll agree that Collins has both a wicked sense of humor and a knack for spotting the beauty in the ordinary. –CL

ADVICE TO WRITERS
By Billy Collins

Even if it keeps you up all night,
wash down the walls and scrub the floor
of your study before composing a syllable.

Clean the place as if the Pope were on his way.
Spotlessness is the niece of inspiration.

The more you clean, the more brilliant
your writing will be, so do not hesitate to take
to the open fields to scour the undersides
of rocks or swab in the dark forest
upper branches, nests full of eggs.

When you find your way back home
and stow the sponges and brushes under the sink,
you will behold in the light of dawn
the immaculate altar of your desk,
a clean surface in the middle of a clean world.

From a small vase, sparkling blue, lift
a yellow pencil, the sharpest of the bouquet,
and cover pages with tiny sentences
like long rows of devoted ants that followed you in from the woods.

–Reprinted from The Apple That Astonished Paris, by Billy Collins (The University of Arkansas Press); 1988

This post is part of a new weekly poetry appreciation series.  To read more, please click on “Poems to inspire” in the CATEGORIES column at right.

– Top photo “Blue Glass” (copyrighted) by Cindy La Ferle –

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Cats and their writers

Cindy on June 29th, 2008

“If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but deteriorate the cat.” — Mark Twain, Notebook, 1894

Last fall, a very nice reporter from the Detroit Free Press called to interview me for a story he was writing about one of my programs at the Royal Oak Public Library. His first couple of questions skirted along the lines of, “Do you have any special writing rituals?” and “What things do you keep on your writing desk or in your office?”

I’m never quick on my feet during interviews, so the only thing I could remember to tell him was that I always brew a strong pot of coffee before I start working. Later, after the piece appeared in the paper, it hit me that I neglected to tell the reporter about Jack (pictured above) and Emma, the cats who keep me company in my home office.

Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to have cats because my mother was allergic to them. I had dogs as pets — and enjoyed them — but was always seriously drawn to the contemplative nature of the cat. Later, after I began writing professionally, I discovered that countless writers throughout history, including Ernest Hemingway, kept cats as muses. (Two years ago I visited Hemingway’s historic home in Key West, where descendants of his six-toed feline still roam freely.)

Over the years I’ve been owned by more cats than I can list here. So, speaking from experience, I can tell you that kittens can seem more like nuisances than muses. They’ll crash-land on your paperwork and send your favorite Cross pen flying across your desk. They do calm down and become more Zen-like as they mature — but some remain decidedly meddlesome. When I’m in the middle of repairing a badly tangled paragraph, for instance, Jack paces in front of my computer monitor to remind me that it’s time to crack open the Fancy Feast. For the most part, though, he and Emma are content to nap on the floor next to me, or stand vigil at the door to my office while I read my work aloud. Seriously, they’re the best coworkers, ever…. Got any good cat stories? Jack is all ears! — Cindy La Ferle

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