Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1885 — Burdette’s Advice to a Young Writer. [ARTICLE]

Burdette’s Advice to a Young Writer.

j This department is a little overcrowded just now, at a time when every man who has learned to read and write, and is not under contract to tell war stories by the mile, is writing columns of instruction to other literary people, telling them what, how, when, and where to write. But these instructions appear to miss all the vital points, to which I now direct the attention of people who aim to excel in literary work. A literary man requires a great deal of sleep. So do his readers. If the author can sleep ten hours a day, his readers, under the law for the prevention of cruelty to animals, are entitled to eleven. And they ought to take it, too, every time they pick up his book. y Of , all thing?, the author should be careful of his brains. It should not be used at all for twelve hours before going to bed, nor between meals. In writing for the stage, should the work in hand be an American society drama, the brain of the writer should not be used at all. Then the people who go to see the play will not have to use theirs either, if they are foolish enough to take them to the theater with them. In writing a tragedy, great care must be taken in the selection of a good stage carpenter, after which the author may go to sleep. About an hour and a half a day is as long as any literary man *hould work. You should rise some time in the morning, nibble a few biscuits and down a cup of coffee, and th<x go back to bed and think until you fall asleep. Then rise again and take a good, hearty breakfast. After breakfast do not go to work, but lie on your back on the sofa and read until luncheon is announced. A literary man or woman requires a great deal of food. After luncheon walk around in the garden or swing in a hammock, or recline in an easy chair until dinner time, say 3 o’clock. Avoid sudden exertion; it is apt to develop heart disease. Do not attempt to do any work immediately after dinner. Go to your room and lie down. If you are a smoker a good cigar before your nap will do no harm if you will be careful to smoke another one immediately after it, “After the nap or the cigar ?” Both, my son. You should now rest until' tea time, at 6or 7 o’clock. If you have any regard for your health you will do no literary work between tea and supper time. Go to the theater and enjoy a nap, or lounge about !the house, or lie down and rest a little. If you feel a bit hungry a light luncheon will not spoil your supper. In fact, a literary man cannot be too careful in this matter of revictualing Nicsics. Always keep a pot of coffee, or a kettle of clam chowder, or some beef tea. or some hearty soup sizzling on the stove, ready to your hand and mouth at a minute’s warning. Always lie down and rest after eating anything. Supper should be eaten just before going to bed. So&ething hearty and substantial, for you have had a wearing day. For your life’s sake do not do any work after supper, but go right to bed and try to get a little rest. If you feel wakeful during the night get up and take a little nourishment. You cannot expect to write with a starved brain. And bear in mind that to the literary man sleep is as essential as food. Eat as much as you sleep. “But,” you say, “all this eating and sleeping does not leave me any time for writing.” “My son, you have the ear-marks of genius. I didn’t think there was so much in you. ” “And newspaper inen ?” you say. Oh,* well, if you want to be a newspaper man you must learn to eat on the run, work eighteen hours a day, and devote the rest of the time to getting rid of your salary. I thought you only wanted to be a journalist or something of that sort.—lioberi J. Burdette, in Brooklyn Eagle.