Unbelievable: Elmore Leonard is 85. Via The Observer: This much I know: Elmore Leonard. Excerpt:
I write in longhand, then on a typewriter. I don't have any of the modern electronics at all. I know the internet would be a distraction. I would see things that interested me and never get back to writing.
I can't understand social networking. There are 500 million people on Facebook, but what are they saying to each other? Not much.
My 10 Rules of Writing have become kind of popular. I'm surprised, because I wrote them back in 2000 – in one afternoon, just for fun, when I was guest of honour at a writers' conference. I was reading them over and laughing at them when I thought: "Actually, they're true – I believe in them."
Do I have rules for life, too? Just try to be honest and straightforward. Try to be a good guy. That's about it.
I have to admit he's right about the internet. Without computers and the web, by now I'd have cranked out three or four novels on my latest-model IBM Selectric.
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