Following the Crowd…
1) Grab the nearest book.
2) Open the book to page 123.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5) Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet. Just pick up whatever is closest. {Stolen from some random person who centers everything} 
The timid fellow writes "The meeting will be held at seven o’clock" because that somehow says to him "Put it this way and people will believe you really know." Purge this quisling thought! Don’t be a muggle! Throw back your shoulders , stick out your chin and put that meeting in charge! Write "The meeting ‘s at seven." There, by God! Don’t you feel better?
From On Writing by Stephen King.
As a rule, I don’t read Stephen King. He is such a pull-you-in writer that if I start a book of his, I finish it. He harrows and frightens his readers and I don’t want that. I started The Stand because my younger son wanted me to read it because he thought it was so good. I finished it but I really didn’t like the feelings I had while reading it. But On Writing is excellent. It is not only a book on writing well but it is autobiographical also. I used a lot of his ideas when I was teaching my seventh graders’ writing techniques.
Ok, I have eaten breakfast, cleaned the bathroom and swept and dry-mopped the diningroom floor. I am now off to poke around the back of closets and in the porch/storage area because I know somewhere there is a box with my sweatshirts in ti! After that, I have a walk planned…
Until later….
First noter haha that never happens. Anyway random thought what time is it in Vermont? It is 902 here.
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Hope you find the sweatshirts! And have a good walk! Love you! ~M
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This sounds like a lovely Idea! I’ll have to do it! The funny thing is, is that he is scared about most of the things he writes about lol. My aunt was is Secretary for a few years and she said that his biggest fear was spiders. <3 Annie-Rae
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I recognized that paragraph right away. I personally love Stephen King for the reasons you don’t like him. He knows what scares me.
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ryn: thankyou!!! That’s exactly the feeling I wanted to create with the tree. I love the way it leans!
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Wow, I didn’t realize that book has been around that long. Time flies.
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I like Stephen King.
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I love Stephen King… and ‘On Writing’ is one of my favorites. Usually if I pick up one of his books, I can’t put it down. ‘The Stand’ and ‘The Dark Tower’ series are the exceptions… I wasn’t able to get into them.
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Stephen King has such a bad rep as a horror writer. Most of his stuff is really excellent and non-scary. Well, not in a horror-sense. Reading The Green Mile absolutely terrified me because of the reality that people that Wild Bill absolutely do exist in the real world but it was such an excellent touching and very human story,overall.
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I am a chicken at heart, so I seldom have seen a Stephen King film (other than Christine) or read his books, but I may have to get this one! Thanks!
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hope you find your sweatshirts. it’s perfect weather for them. a walk… i’m thinking merlyn needs one. take care,
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oh I like this. And I already got the book so I’ll have to do the post won’t I. I don’t read Stephen King either cos he gives me the willies. That’s why I was so afraid of the rats in our house so I don’t want to know about the fog or the slugs or anything else like that.
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SK is a master of fear. I can still remember Carrie.
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Stephen King is like a spider, weaving a web to snare you in a dark corner. My Charlie Brown is a huge fan of his and reads everything he publishes. As for me, I stay away from spiderwebs in dark corners. I’m sunbeams and moon shine, raindrops and sparkle. I read what makes me feel good.
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I might have to read that book of his. I read Carried and started the first few pages of the Stand but I lost my nerve.
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I may have to do this with the book I am reading now. Hope you find those sweatshirts. Ya know, I rarely wear one here in Alabama. We get weather thats cool enough but I am still a short sleeved kind of person. Have a great walk! Hugs, M
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My SIL has all of Stephen King’s books… But I’ve never read any of his. They always make me think of scary things… I’m just not into “scary.”
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I wouldin’t tough a King book with a ten foot pole. I had a friend of mine used to do prose interpretation in hs she had a cutting from CUGO…scared the beegeebus outta me…she’d use theis REALLY creepy voice…aahhhhargahhh I had to leave the room when she practiced it!
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I loved that book as well. I used to read his other books then went off him when I read he liked the fact that a woman had apparently had a heart attack because she’d been so frightened by one of his books (although I’m not sure that can actually happen). But yes ‘On Writing’ is an excellent book.
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Yay for sweatshirts! I gave all mine away, but I remember the cozy feeling one gets when pulling one over one’s head… Hope you find them. Love to you! ~M
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Gee, for some reason this entry just appeared at the top of my faves’ updates list! Well, I never read it before, so it’s new to me anyhow. :o) !! I liked Stephen King’s earlier novels (my favorite being “Salem’s Lot”), but then he just got grislier and grislier!! Some of his later stuff was just waaaaaaaaay overboard, I thought! And yet, as you said, it does tend to pull one in…. I would keep reading, all the while thinking “OMG, how could anyone THINK of stuff like this??!!” So, I don’t read him anymore. “On Writing” does sound good though, and I also enjoyed his nonfiction “Danse Macabre.” hugs, Weesprite
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I’ve wanted to read this one for a long time. I love his books (yes, I do enjoy a little darkness), and his philosophy on writing. Seems very down-to-earth. xxx
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I think he’s a very gifted writer
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I’ve not read King in YEARS, but I think I want to read this.
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I read “On Writing” about 3 years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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