Navigation Links, Column Secrets Revealed and, of course… the Disney Afternoon
If you’ll kindly look to your left, you will find a link to my one of my columns from WD under the heading “The Road More or Less Traveled”. If…
If you'll kindly look to your left, you will find a link to my one of my columns from WD under the heading "The Road More or Less Traveled". If you've never read said column, this is your chance to see what happens when my work gets edited, and if you have read it before, this is your chance to re-visit it time and time again while having it handy to liberally quote from in holiday cards to Elizabeth Hasselbeck loved ones.
But to really celebrate the occasion, here are 6 director's commentary-style behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the making of the column:
1. I wrote said column longhand on four journal pages using a sh*tty Czech-brand pen in the Bohemian Bagel cafe in Prague, Czech Republic while eating a Turkey Club on a sesame bagel. Bohemian Bagel is an ex-pat joint, which is French for where the Americans hang out. As I recall, I asked for no mayo on said club sandwich but--being in the Czech Republic-- they took this to mean "slightly less mayo".
2. I'd say that this was one of the easiest of all of my columns to write because I was very much feeling the burden and guilt from not having taken on as many travel writing projects while I was away, which I promptly and frequently took out on my friend Casey The Big Cat. The entire (unedited) first draft took only 3 hours to write, which is a short time period for me to do, really, anything.
3. I really thought Bill Bryson was British. Or at least Canadian.
4. Other characters I'd considered wishing I'd seen while hallucinating on absinthe: Baloo from Talespin, that Cajun dude from the animated X-Men (Gambit?), Raven Symone.
5. Word I was using too much at the time of writing: "organically".
6. (Not?) Awesome Mental Image: A "Pants-less Tom Wolfe"
Anyway, just wanted to give you the 411 so you could enjoy the column gratis in all its column glory. Now I'm going back to sleep.
Take On Me,
A,
Ha
PS- pictured below: The opening credits and theme song from The Disney Afternoon's Talespin as everyone remembers it...in Hungarian.
Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).