Ernest Hemingway Liked to “Do It” Standing Up

I know it’s dirty and unconventional, but I liked to do it outside in college.

The first time was spring semester of my freshman year, and once I started I just couldn’t stop. Because I went school in Wisconsin, the passing of the seasons limited when I could indulge in the grassy common areas around campus — but when the weather was right I’d do it outdoors for hours. As a young, open-minded philosophy student, it didn’t take much to turn me on — to writing.

(Please take a moment to remove your mind from the gutter before continuing on…)

There is no wrong way to write: Maya Angelou wakes up early to do the deed. James Joyce, author of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, wrote lying on his stomach in bed. Ernest Hemingway liked to do it standing up. Agatha Christie admits to munching on apples in the bathtub while mulling over murder plots. Victor Hugo wrote Les Misérables in his — ahem — birthday suit.

As we speak, there are thousands of writers participating in #NaNoWriMo, hundreds in #GrammoWrimo, and countless others putting pen to paper just for fun. During this month of literary abandon, hipsters are taking to the parks to clack away on vintage typewriters, novelists are grasping quill pens at dimly-lit mahogany desks, and travel writers are boarding trains and planes to rest their feet and recap new worlds. Writers are doing it everywhere, and (let’s face it) we love to watch.

So, whether you’re editing from your bed (colloquially known as bediting), co-authoring from the kitchen, journaling in a java house, or crafting prose from a yoga pose, we want to hear how you’re “doing it” this month. We’ve created a meme generator to help!

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