If You Want To Be A Writer...Then go for it!

                                                        Review of Hemingway's Attic
William Elliott Hazelgrove has written an excellent book for writers and those wanting to become a writer. Oh, now this isn't about the how-to or how-to-write or even how-to-get-published or how-to-market your book. Nope, however what this book is, is it's about the lifestyle of being a writer and what to expect. As an author of 19 books, I could relate all too well with that William wrote about. As strange as it may seem, and for the most part, the real world doesn't consider writing to be a "real job" and William, working off his own experience, shares with us, how rocky the road can get.

One of the aspects I took away from this book is two-fold. As a writer, the two main keys for success are perseverance and confidence. And speaking from my own experience, I couldn't agree more. You have to have thick skin to survive in this business, but that doesn't mean you cannot still have fun. I love the comparisons to Hemingway as even I have a deep respect for the man. One quote from Hemingway that serves as my mantra is, "Writing is easy, all you do is sit at a typewriter and bleed." And this is one of the points that William makes in the book, if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, then get out. But, if you are going to stay, then make it work and just do it.

But all in all, the main theme of this book, the whole enchilada so to speak about this book is this, Be true to yourself, if it is the life that you want, being a writer, then claim it and make it so. If you want to be a writer, then make the commitment to do it.I truly appreciate the helpful tips and advice William gives throughout the book but this message is the one that counts more than any other. Here are just two quotes from the book to illustrate his points, "If you want to be a writer then GO FOR IT!' and "You are a writer anyway. You will never retire. NOW IS THE TIME . NOW IS YOUR LIFE ! Stake yourself a year and start living the writers life."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "If you want to be a writer then GO FOR IT!' May 6, 2014

By Dennis Waller TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

www.williamhazelgrove.com

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http://www.amazon.com/HEMINGWAYS-ATTIC-surviving-as-writer-ebook/dp/B006QRDREM

 

The Strange Moments in Hemingways Attic

A newspaper asked me if I would tell them about the strange moments in Hemingways attic. I wrote up in the Hemingway birthplace attic from 1998 to really 2008.  Now when I went up into the attic it was just an attic with mice and squirrels and bugs and wasps and Hemingway toys and books scattered about. Highlights would include being there at night and hearing footsteps in the house and going down and finding the fire burning in the fireplace. Meeting Bumby Jack Hemingway ...the first son and then Patrick his third son. Getting the Hemingway crib up in Petosky in a blinding snowstorm and bringing it back to the house.  That was a story in itself.

 

My computer freezing in winter then cooking in summer and having computer cords chewed through. Writing on Marcelline's trunk (Hemingway's sister) that was in a different place every time I came back up. Getting  terrific headaches whenever I tired to read Fitzgerald up in the attic. Writing a book called Hemingway's Attic and then losing it up there and finding it months later where I left I. Weird. The strange energy that is the attic. The feeling I had to leave or never write a book I could call my own again. Bumping into a Hemingway look alike from Florida who really did look exactly like Hemingway.

 

Well I write over a garage now and have been very productive. The Pitcher is just out and a  new book out in the spring called One Up and one out next fall called Real Santa. I know that Hemingway wrote For Whom The Bell Tolls over his garage in Florida. So I guess  you never really escape the Ernest shadow.

 

www.williamhazelgrove.com

The Pitcher

Media and NPR Interview on writing in Hemingway attic

 

 

 

Hemingway's Attic--Surviving As a Writer

"There are no classes for how to survive as a writer. It is usually the school of hard knocks. Writers mostly keep to themselves and flame out or end up in some gutter without telling anyone of their journey. There are lots of books on how to get published and make a bestseller and how to sell books. But to survive as a writer in a society that does not recognize writing as a viable way of life is very tricky. Most will not undertake it. Many will wait until retirement and then write their self-published novel. It is all very safe and not who Hemingways' Attic  is for.


This book is for the writer. This book is for the man woman or child who has no choice in the matter and who makes the decision to be a writer or die. It is like that. Once you know you are a writer then there is nothing you can do. So this book is for those who must survive in a world intent on crushing the writer. It is no coincidence all our great writers went to Paris in the twenties. America has never had much patience for artists of any kind. This is a can do country and it would seem artist are outside that charge.

So if you are still reading then this is a good thing. My history tells only my story. Yours may well be different. You may hit it early, later, or not at all. But here is the thing. I have been up and down many times, but through it all I have always had one goal…to keep on writing."
  Excerpted from Hemingways' Attic

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/
Hemingways' Attic (surviving as a writer)

The Dream of Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris is  A Moveable Feast. Most of us who write or read seriously know about the Left Bank crowd of writers and painters who set the bar in the twenties for all to follow for the next hundred years. It was an amazing amalgam of creative talent centered in post WWI Paris and more centered in the bars and bistros where the writers and painters cross pollinated and created literature and art that is probably unparalleled since the Renaissance. Who hasn't become a writer or a painter and think about going to Paris to live the life less certain?

I did and so did the Owen Wilson character who is struggling between art and commerce and a wife who wants the finer things. In his fantasy or Woody Allen's we meet Hemingway and Fitzgerald Dali Gertrude Stein Picasso Zelda Mcleish and are mindful of the lingering presence of Joyce and Faulkner and the many others who came to the heart of the world of art and writing to make history and live  the artist life in a world where art is preeminent.

This is the assumption and the dream and Fitzgerald is refined and Hemingway is coarse and hilarious and Gertrude Stein is the Grande Dam of writing and Picasso is conflicted and Zelda is brilliant and heading toward insanity. This is the world we dance through and of course Paris is the magical background that makes us want it all the more. And Owen Wilson wants it and when he finally throws over security for a life in Paris we say but of course.

And then the movie ends and leaves us with the dream of the Left Bank fantasy intact. And why not? Those people took a chance and went to Paris to be artists and live a life apart. Undoubtedly there was hardship and people starved and did not find literary fame. But Paris is not a dream, it is a real city, and as Owen Wilson says, just walking in the rain in Paris at night is enough. One can  only imagine.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/
Hemingways Attic-- surviving as a writer