By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:48:51 +0000

My conversation with the surgeon happened in about 1992. I documented it in “On Apprenticeship” in 1994. “On Apprenticeship” has been reprinted dozens of times since its first appearance in Maine in Print, first in Poets and Writers, later in publications from the Romance Writers Newsletter to a sociology journal, and just about every odd little publication in between. I think the message is still important, these days when so many conversations with aspiring writers are part of my life, and so many of them are about careers rather than sentences, paragraphs, and drafts.
Also, apropos your comment, I’ve been amused over the years to see the central anecdote of the piece, about the brain surgeon, become something of a writer’s urban myth. I’ve heard several speakers use it in the years since its publication in MIP and Poets and Writers, and have had several published essays or news articles sent to me because a friend recognized the borrowed story, sometimes barely disguised, once simply used verbatim. I even had the story told to me during my book tour (with THE SMALLEST COLOR) in Australia in 2004, where my host told me he’d heard Margaret Atwood tell it just the month before. I kept my mouth shut. No doubt it was just a similar story and had really happened to her, too.

By: monica wood

monica wood — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:34:19 +0000

You’re singin’ my song, brother Joshua.

By: Paula

Paula — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:55:44 +0000

Hmm. I heard the same surgeon/writer story about Margaret Atwood. A good line though, whoever said it.

By: elizabethhilts

elizabethhilts — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:45:09 +0000

Amen.

Comments on: Bad Advice Wednesday: Guest Contributor Joshua Bodwell

By: Bill

By: monica wood

By: Paula

By: elizabethhilts