What Are You Wearing Right Now?

Recently while perusing a back issue of the New York Times Book Review, TG came across a review of some old famous writer, TG can't remember who, exactly, but this sharp scrivener was pictured sitting at his typewriter beavering away, wearing a three piece suit. You know the sort of picture, Somerset Maugham maybe, Dashiell Hammet, Hammet always wore a suit, J.P. Marquand, somebody. So of course as soon as TG started looking for a picture to use in this entry he couldn't find any pictures like he thought he saw. The Conan Doyle on the left was the closest he could find. Of course there's always Rudyard Kipling, (see below) he probably slept in a wooly tweed suit. But here's the point, one of the few perks of being a writer is you don't have to get “dressed up” to go to work. You can stroll downstairs, or upstairs, as the case might be, wearing pretty much anything you want. Who's going to see you? Yeah, maybe your family, but they don't have any respect for you anyway, so they don't count.

TG's everyday writing garb? Summer: Black T-shirt, black jeans, sneakers. Winter: Black mock turtleneck, black jeans, sneakers. Keep it simple. No muss, no fuss when rooting through the shirt drawer. But how about these guys who put on a suit to sit down at their desk? Maybe they've got something there. Maybe if you dress up, YOUR PROSE DRESSES UP! Maybe you write better if you dress better! So TG decided to get up this week, take a shower first thing and put on his suit, fresh and ready for a hard day's work. Suit? you may ask?

Here's the reason TG actually owns a suit...

Several years ago TG put together a book with his pal Mike Rothmiller, My Hero, which is a cool little book. The book caught the attention of then president George Bush, or rather it caught the attention of his wife. She decided that it would be good to have a ceremony in the White House where George would come in and receive a copy and give it a plug. Great, right? Sell a million copies. Well, TG was anything other than a Bush fan, so this rankled. TG's wife, World's Biggest Liberal, said what the hell, how many chances do you get like this? So TG said OK, even though it meant buying an actual suit. Which he did. It cost $400.00. More with a decent belt and a pair of shoes that weren't sneakers. So everything was running along smoothly, when one of the Bush girls, don't ask TG which one, decided to get married on the same day the book thing was suppsed to happen. So they canceled, those ingrates. TG didn't even try to reschedule since it wasn't something he hadn't wanted to do in the first place. The little book is still cool, check it out here.

That's why TG actually owns a suit.

So this week, TG was going to get up, put on his suit and tie and sit down at the computer and write some excellent prose. You know what? It's too much trouble. Besides, no one is here to take a picture. And if there's no picture it didn't really happen anyway.

So what do you wear when you write? Does it matter?

Here's a few others...

Mickey Spillane:

Rudyard Kipling: