What's a good gift to get someone writing?

ottorino

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
87
Reaction score
19
Location
Action, USA
Help! My brother's turning 49. He's a wonderful writer but the world's greatest procrastinator.

What can I give him that will get him writing? He's read Stephen King's "On Writing" (he gave it to me for my birthday--I loved it) but that didn't do the trick.

He's had some poems published, works as a freelance copywriter. I think he's a novelist at heart. Any suggestions?
 

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
4,740
Reaction score
1,799
Location
Europe
Website
jasontudor.com
Advice on how to get that "network engineer certification" paperwork completed. :)
 

aadams73

A Work in Progress
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
9,901
Reaction score
6,428
Location
Oregon
A swift kick in the pants? It's cheap :D

Seriously, maybe Donald Maass's Writing the Breakout Novel?
 

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 17, 2005
Messages
12,562
Reaction score
5,327
Age
47
Location
Alabama -my home sweet home.
Tell him you love his writing? Journal? The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Bird By BIrd by Ann Lamont. A subsrciption to Writer's Digest. does he have kids or says he can't write becuase of time. Offer to help do somthing to make time like babysitting. *Shrug*
 

ottorino

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
87
Reaction score
19
Location
Action, USA
Tell him you love his writing? Journal? The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Bird By BIrd by Ann Lamont. A subsrciption to Writer's Digest. does he have kids or says he can't write becuase of time. Offer to help do somthing to make time like babysitting. *Shrug*

Interesting.
 

Rich

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
689
Reaction score
189
An agent?

Seriously though. Pick out a poem you especially like, have a calligrapher pen it, frame it.
 

William Haskins

poet
Kind Benefactor
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
29,099
Reaction score
8,848
Age
58
Website
www.poisonpen.net
istockphoto_2596763_alcohol_and_a_gun.jpg


.
 

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 17, 2005
Messages
12,562
Reaction score
5,327
Age
47
Location
Alabama -my home sweet home.
Interesting.
I know some people around these parts don't Like Artist's way but it helped me priortize what was really important to me and shed other things, not just with writing but with my whole life. I don't do morning pages anymore, but I do still journal(just not first thing in tha AM). I haven't actully read Bird By Bird yet, but I have salivated over it in the bookstore.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
Yes, Ma'am. I need a gift that will MOTIVATE him to write.

Sorry to sound harsh, but if someone's really motivated, they don't need gifts. There's no outside thing that can make someone write unless they truly want to.

I mean, you could take away all my How To Write books, my computers, my pens and paper and I'd still find a way.
 

akiwiguy

AW Inmate #90976
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
711
Reaction score
619
A month's supply of LSD, anough petrol vouchers to get him across Route 66, and a digital note-taker.

Nah, seriously, if it was me I always like books and especially ones I perhaps wouldn't normally buy myself. Saw a really nice glossy, lots of pics, encyclopaedia of the world's greatest writers in the library the other night, and that's the kind of thing I'd love to get as a present personally. If motivation is the problem, maybe inspiration?
 

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
4,740
Reaction score
1,799
Location
Europe
Website
jasontudor.com
Just a thought -- it sounds like you love him when he writes -- not that he loves to write. A gentle suggestion might be to get yourself a journal and get him whatever he might enjoy. He may be a good writer when he wants to do it, but you may yourself as the one with the gift that needs feeding. :)
 

Ziljon

Tortilla di Patate
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
1,316
Reaction score
417
Location
In the midst of 1000 Oaks
Website
www.daviddepalo.com
I think a micro-cassette recorder and some boxer-briefs make the best gift.

Boxer-briefs are like boxers that hug the butt and thigh. They make you feel more sexy and vital. Thus, he will be refilled with machismo, will be "locked & loaded" as they say. In a word, he will feel like a writer, and isn't that really the answer right there?

You just feel like something and then, boom, that's what you are.
Mens_Boxer_Briefs.jpg
Equipment0028030.jpg
 
Last edited:

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
11,724
Reaction score
2,085
Website
peterdamien.com
An agent?

Seriously though. Pick out a poem you especially like, have a calligrapher pen it, frame it.

THAT's a great idea. Someone can feel free to do that for me, anytime they like. :)

He may not want to write, though, talented or not. Muse does bring up a great point. My wife is a very, very good artist, but she doesn't pursue it anymore aside from really cool doodles when she's on the phone. Mostly because people harrassed her about pursuing it. Partially because her passion lies elsewhere. It's something to think about.