Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 27, 2018

I’d be willing to work with Rat on strengthening one of those traits.

Not sure about this list. I expect some of the great writers weren’t naturally talented and had to work twice as hard to make up for that. Some were so naturally talented that they didn’t really need to work very hard. Seriously doubt they were all hard drinkers. And quite a few only became great writers long after their deaths; in their lifetimes they met with little success but some of what they wrote was just barely successful enough to be kept around for a later generation to discover them and proclaim their greatness. Basically, their stuff became a cult classic of it’s day only to later be declared great literature.

Hemingway is a difficult standard to live up to…or at least to stand upright and walk a straight line to.

I’m the opposite of Rat; I would check #1 and #2.

I don’t believe Rat will reach the other two.

Hard-Drinking. Are we talking about coffee or alcohol?

Rat is a third of the way there, and has been since we were introduced.

Numbers 1 and 2 can be replaced by a great PR agent.

You’re a hard-drinking from the sewer vermin.

Need to develop at least one more. Otherwise you are just another drunk.

Pulitzer Prize, here we(hic!) come!

Just saw a really good DVD called “The Man Who Invented Christmas”. It is the story of Charles Dickens and how he came to write the beloved tale “A Christmas Carol”. The story shows how the characters developed, through pressure to finish the commissioned work. I highly recommend! (It’s available in libraries).

Rat is naturally talented at hard drinking.

Sometimes you have to rely on what you are really good at. Maybe he could write country and western songs. Pop a top again.

Write what you know,it’s a start.

At least it’s the good third, Rat.

Reminds me of the t-shirt I saw in junior high school: “I lift weights 12 ounces at a time,” and shows a man lifting a beer can.

Good for rat. Start at the bottom and work your way up.

I’m amazed that the ever-humble Rat didn’t also check #1.

https://youtu.be/N_wikdQ2Z0A

It wush a dark and shtormy night…

Way to go Rat. Look for the positives.

Rat flushed out another characteristic to the dysfunctional Congress. None are naturally talented. None are hard working. All ACE wining and dining.

Talent is actually a pretty common commodity, not just in writing but in any of the arts. But all the talent in the world won’t do it alone. Writing is a craft. Writers write; daily, sometimes for hours on end. Most of it turns out to be rubbish. In the same way, a carpenter works for years honing his techniques and skills. If there’s talent, maybe, just maybe, once in a great while, something wonderful is created. As to the hard drinking, I cannot say. But I’ll quietly suggest that it might be similar to any other occupation, avocation, or profession – that it’s probably not a good idea during working hours.

⇧ @knight

it’s the bloody-minded who never seem to get the joke, wouldn’t you agree…?

Your first step is said to be the hardest, but in this case, I’m not so sure, Rat….

There is but one common trait of all good writers. Correct spelling!