Sunday, October 3, 2010

I WANT TO BE A WRITER IN RESIDENCE


Writer in Residence, what a great gig! How can I get one like that, you're asking yourself. You get paid, you get to get away from your cluttered house and your demanding family to a place where you are looked up to and admired. Most writers in residence spend a few weeks at a public library giving talks and critiquing patrons' manuscripts and of course working on their current WIP when they get a moment. But I want a residency like Alain de Botton (pictured here) who spent a week at Heathrow Airport as the Writer in Residence. Look at the exposure! Look at the book he wrote while sitting in the Departures Terminal - a slim, attractive volume called A WEEK AT THE AIRPORT which is filled with his "witty, erudite musings."

I can see myself in that position. Actually I would prefer the airport at Papeete, Tahiti at this time of year when the fog comes rolling in to my real residence. Lots of fog at Heathrow too, I hear. There in the tropics I would be the witty, erudite person I always knew I could be. I would be gracious and charming to the hordes of curious passengers who wonder what I am doing there sitting at that desk with a plumeria lei around my neck. "Writing a cozy mystery," I'd say, "a slim (very slim) book which will be filled with my musings as well as murder and mayhem. Any ideas, anyone?" I'd also be happy to autograph my books and to give or take travel or literary advice. De Bottom said a big part of his job was giving directions to the loo. Hey, I can do that too.

You too can be a Writer in Residence. But where? Airport, library, Cape Cod cottage, Macy's window? And what will you write whilst residing?

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