Have you ever been so fascinated by an expression that you have become totally obsessed by it?
A combination of words has been growing in my brain like an inflated balloon.
I was reading a book by J.M. Coetzee. and came across the expression ‘body of journalism’.
I know it means all the articles a person has written throughout their career/lifetime. But to a writer, it means so much more.
It has something so physical to it.
Are my articles really an extension of my physical body?
Even if we use computers these days, writing is still such a physical act. You sit down in front of your screen and your entire body is concentrated on what is coming out of your mind.
When I worked in Prague, I used to write in the bedroom of my tiny apartment. In the winter, I would wear different layers of clothes to beat the cold my gas heater was too weak to fight. My entire body was struggling to stay warm and produce words.
Or I would write in the enormous news room of the Czech agency. Early in the morning, the darkness would embrace my body like a cocoon that helped me to go into my mind and dig for words.
I had a dream the other night after reading Coetzee.
Someone had given me a present: a silver broach in the shape of a bee. The bee’s body was a fountain pen made of glass, full of velvety blue ink.
It was so Kafkesk.
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