Lessons from the "Man Cave"

Mark Twain was known for being a traveler. He went to Europe, Hawaii and all across the continental United States gradually gaining credibility and fame as a writer. He even spent a few stretches in San Francisco writing for the San Francisco Daily Morning Call. But he wrote some of his most famous works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from his home in Hartford, CT, which I was lucky enough to visit awhile back.

Twain's Billiard Room where he did most his writing

Twain retreated from the noise of a busy household to this 19^th century man cave on the 3^rd floor where he could smoke cigars, shoot pool and play cards while informally entertaining friends. But more importantly, he came here to write in peace and quiet. The pool table would become a work area where he’d spread out his manuscripts to organize his thoughts. To the left of the pool table but not quite visible in this photo is a shelf of cubby holes where he would file away ideas and works-in-progress. Beneath the light of the green lamp in the right corner, he sat at his desk and penned one of the greatest and most controversial novels in American literature.

But what I found most striking about this room was that Twain’s writing desk was in the right hand corner facing the window…just like mine. Did he ever neglect Huck Finn to focus on a bird perched outside the window?

My writing desk is also in a room on the 3^rd floor of a busy house even if other tenants occupy the majority of the building.  Sometimes I use my bed to spread out my notebooks that can’t fit on my small computer desk. And once in awhile I hear the neighbors' kids down stairs running around laughing or crying and I wonder if Twain heard his own kids running about the house as he wrote some of his most famous works upstairs.

While I find these to be amusing similarities we also differ in several ways, aside from the obvious difference in skill and fame. For starters, I write under my own name, while Samuel Clemens of course was Mark Twain only on paper. His stories are based on his own life experiences while mine are based on direct observations of things I see out the window. Twain’s primary tools of the trade were a paper and pen, mine are a computer and a camera. He had cubby holes to store works-in-progress and ideas while mine are stored in Dropbox file folders on the Internet.

Twain had to use his imagination and have a good memory to recall events from his past while crafting his stories. My stories rely on being ever vigilant to catch any noteworthy activity going on outside. It can be equally challenging because a good window watcher needs more than just a computer and some time to watch. Here are a few tips for the would-be window watcher.

First, remove the screen from the window. It only gets it the way. Second, keep your viewing tools within arm’s reach. If you look closely at the photo above you’ll notice my glasses, camera and binoculars on my desk. It takes some experience to know which tool to grab at a moment’s notice. Third, you need to hone your cat-like reflexes, instantly reacting to anything that catches your attention, grabbing the right tool and training it on the subject before the bird, person or vehicle passes by and your story is lost.

Here are some examples of what can happen when you don’t follow these guidelines.

Slow Reaction Time

A few weeks ago I noticed a fire truck pass by on Lincoln Blvd right where the street light is on the left side of the photo. Then another fire truck rolled by, and another and another. I realized too late that something big was going on. I tore up my room looking for my camera until I finally found it, dove back towards the window and clicked off this photo just as the last truck passed out of view. I later confirmed that it was the funeral procession for fallen San Francisco firefighters Lt. Vincent Perez and Anthony Valerio. A huge contingent of firefighters from all across the country came to honor the brave men who died in the line of duty.

Wrong Tool

This, I believe, appears to be a military cargo plane but I made the mistake of going for the camera instead of the binoculars. The camera takes too long to zoom in all the way and focus before taking the photo. A plane is simply moving too fast for the slowest tool in my belt. The appropriate response should have been the binoculars where maybe I could have read some identifying numbers on the plane that could later be googled for more info. Now we might never know the who, what, when, where and why of that military cargo plane.

Unprepared

And finally, you may have noticed no accompanying photo or video to the entry, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” That is what happens when your tools are not within arm’s reach.

So Rear Window’s first ever Mark Twain “week” comes to a close with a few lessons learned from ol’ Sam Clemens. Whether it’s a pen and paper or high tech gadgets, you need to apply the appropriate tools of the trade to get the job done. If you want to be a writer, you need to find a quiet place and some time to write. And most of all, you need look no further than your own everyday life and experiences for inspiration.