Chapter 23 - Notes from a Conversation I Never Had with Paul Auster

Paul Auster has a wonderful story about anecdote why he always carries a pencil

Paul Auster

I do have a few unusual writing habits — I’m a dinosaur now. I write everything by hand and type it up on an old manual typewriter, an Olympia 1961. … I can say this, I’ve never been able to compose on a keyboard. I need a pen or a pencil in my hand, feel that it’s a very physical activity. When I write, words are literally coming out of my body. — Paul Auster

Paul Auster has a wonderful story about anecdote why he always carries a pencil.

The one time he needed it most, as a child, he didn’t have one — and missed the opportunity to get the autograph of his childhood baseball hero Willie Mays.

“After that night, I started carrying a pencil with me wherever I went. It became a habit of mine never to leave the house without making sure I had a pencil in my pocket. It’s not that I had any particular plans for that pencil, but I didn’t want to be unprepared. I had been caught empty-handed once, and I wasn’t about to let it happen again. If nothing else, the years have taught me th…