Val Bucknall 2006

 

One of the things I like about Russ is his willingness to talk about his writing process, a topic that fascinates me:

… when you've got to where you know how not to get in your own way you can tune into things and write whatever passes through your head without having to worry about whether it's right or wrong. The process itself becomes the product, and then there are no risks? Well, here I can only speak from my own experience. I find that in order to tune in to things I have to spend about ten hours a day at my desk. I have to stay up late and let the night into me so that the bricks of reason move apart and the other comes in through the cracks. …you have to let the night back in because it is the mother and the mother is where everything comes from. You have to let the night back in and you have to listen to what wants to speak to you.

from The Bear in Max Ernst's Bedroom
(The Moment under The Moment)

I made several copies and on each I put:

Happy Birthday to Russell Hoban, 81 years old on 4.2.06
www.thoughtcat.com/sa4qe

I left a copy on a park bench in Kingsmeadow, Burnt Ash Lane, Bromley; one amongst the newspapers on a table in Burnt Ash Library; another on a seat outside St Andrew's Church; one among the books in the Oxfam shop; one on the stationary counter in Martin's newsagent's shop, and the last in a box containing second-hand books outside an antiques shop in Plaistow Lane.

It was cold. There were only a few people about; some of these were near the yellow papers, but I didn't see anyone pick one up. I felt quite anxious not to be seen leaving them there in case someone suspected the fact that I am a bit odd. I did enjoy thinking that other Krakenites were doing the same thing in lots of different places today.