I had to laugh/gag when I read the piece that follows in David Morrell's Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing.
"Stephen King once told me about his vasectomy. The surgical procedure occurred in the morning. His physician advised him to go easy for the rest of the day. Instead, Steve went to work as soon as he got home. Only when he looked down and realized that he was sitting in a pool of blood and that his testicles were swollen did he finally quit."
Morrell was talking about the commitment to writing that successful authors have. I fear I'm not quite that committed. I draw the line at bleeding. Although, when my left shoulder was broken and my arm in a sling I did manage to type with that hand by resting it on the keyboard.
In other news, last night I saw fireflies in the woods behind my house. Took me back to childhood's summer evenings in Arkansas when we'd catch them by the dozens and keep them in a jar for their light.
Yeah, Stephen is a bit out there, isn't he? My only claim to suffering is my toes turning blue during the early morning writing hours this past winter. I know, I know...socks...just put on some damn socks! My only excuse is I come from the variety of humans that enjoy being barefoot and thus only considered frostbite prevention post blue toes.
ReplyDeleteFireflies are mesmerizing.
Writing IS an antidote to physical pain.
ReplyDeletedidja ever turn the fireflys loose in a dark place like a mive theater?
ReplyDeleteFireflies are a great spectacle of nature.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I remember most about my vasectomy was that the doctor was a basket ball player on his college team and he definitely had fingers to match that talent. He said "this won't hurt a bit", then he gave me my first ever prostate exam. He lied and I couldn't even sit to think, much less write.
Oh yes i have prostate exams stories up the ass...so to speak.
Good writing today Charles, did King ever find a way to include bleeding testicles in any of his novels?
I used to spend hours collecting fireflies. I'd 'accidentally' let them in the house so I could see them in my room at night.
ReplyDeleteI worry about the dedication, too. Wave something shiny at me (like a firefly), and I'm off.
I can only guess he had a good grip on a loose bit of story and really, REALLY wanted to see where it took him.
ReplyDeleteReckon I can sympathize...
I draw the line at that particular source of bleeding. King's writing memoir is really good, though, with insights ito him as a person as well as writer.
ReplyDeleteFireflies -- love them, but the sound of the whip poor wills sticks to mind more than anything for me from "youth."
I guess S.K. had to really be in the moment to have not noticed his bleeding balls.
ReplyDeleteI remember that section of the book! The image was so disturbing that it stuck with me. Only Stephen King could work through that, I'm thinking. But I do get the point about dedication -- a must for any writer!
ReplyDeleteAhhh vasectomy horror stories. I bet you could get a thousand of them. All I'll say about mine is that the doctor asked my wife if she'd ever cauterized an artery with a match.
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