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July 19: A Day in the Life of a Writer (Who Has No Friends)

2007-07-19 · letter vlog · John · 2:55 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Personal update · tags: song or performance, community lore

John shows Hank his lonely new writing routine in Indianapolis - replaying Hank's Harry Potter song, missing his New York writer friends, typing for hours - and reads the prologue of his new novel.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Praise for Hank's song; follow-up to the earlier writer's-day video; lonely morning routine missing New York writer friends

  • ★★ John congratulates Hank on yesterday's song, calling it Hank's best song ever. — 00:00:10
  • ★★ John recalls a video from a couple of months ago showing him, Scott Westerfeld and Maureen Johnson writing together in a hotel room; this is its friendless follow-up. (playful) — 00:00:10 · Maureen Johnson
  • ★★ Since moving to Indianapolis, John says, every morning he sits in this chair (or outside) and first listens to Hank's song again. (playful) — 00:00:10 · Indianapolis
  • ★★ He spends about 30 minutes missing his old New York writing friends - Scott, Justine and Maureen, just back from England - and feels lonely. (playful) — 00:00:10 · Maureen Johnson, New York City, England

00:01:32 — Seven hours of typing; writing looks the same done well or badly; new novel 150 pages in

  • ★★ After the warm-up John writes (types), which goes on for about seven hours. (playful) — 00:01:32
  • ★★ John says writing looks exactly the same whether done well or poorly, one of the main ways it differs from ballet dancing. (playful) — 00:01:32
  • ★★★ John is working on a part of his new novel about 150 pages in, and reads its prologue as a hint because people 'in my pants' debate what the book is about. — 00:01:32 · in your pants

00:02:01 — Reading the new novel's prologue ('everyone gets a miracle'); sign-off wishing Hank a good Harry Potter

  • ★★★ In the prologue the narrator reasons that everyone gets a miracle - of all the unlikely things, at least one will probably happen to each of us - and his miracle was Margo. (fiction) — 00:02:01
  • ★ John hopes the new Harry Potter book lives up to Hank's every expectation; if it is as good as Hank's song, it will be one heck of a book. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:26 · Harry Potter (book series)

Humor (significant)

  • John describes his new writer's routine each morning. — 00:00:10

    “the first thing that I do is I listen to your song again. God, that's a good song.”

  • John imagines his New York writer friends having fancy lunches without him. — 00:00:56

    “This room echoes. Echo, echo. I'm lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely.”

  • Writing looks the same whether it goes well or badly. — 00:01:32

    “That's actually one of the main ways that writing is different from ballet dancing.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: John's untitled new novel

Also: People: Justine Larbalestier · Maureen Johnson · Scott Westerfeld

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0 forum (“people in my pants”)

Works: Accio Deathly Hallows · Harry Potter (book series)

Terms: in your pants (“people in my pants”)

Places: England · Indianapolis · New York City

Characters: Margo Roth Spiegelman

Also centred on John's untitled new novel: Brotherhood 2.0: January 8, 2007

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