The Writing Life Too

The sky is still a summer blue and, oh hallelujah, ring the bells, clouds are moving in. It’s been unmercifully hot lately, but I guess folks living in Baghdad wouldn’t blink. Well, that is unless they lived in the Shiite neighborhood where American troops raided and switched off their electricity in order to gain cooperation because they’re looking for militants. I’m sure the residents, their neighbors dead and buildings destroyed are ready to kiss the feet of their American liberators. But then again they might be sticking to the floor since it was 114 degrees.

But I probably don’t need to explain how our failed occupation of Iraq deteriorates daily. Let’s get back to writing and such.... I have a few small luxuries in life that I can't get by without—fresh flowers, good wine, organic food, books, and magazines. I receive at least a dozen magazines in my mail box each month and Vanity Fair is sent courtesy of a friend. It comes every month thick with glossy ads, including perfume samples that I immediately toss out before I begin sneezing, a cover graced by beautiful people, and it opens me to a world far from my own. I ignore the stories about troubled heiresses and jewel heists and have come to appreciate their political coverage and an odd feature, the Proust Questionnaire that is on the last page of the magazine. All sorts of people have answered the questions from Norman Mailer and Helen Thomas, to Helen Gurley Brown (the August answerer). Now, I don’t give a whit about Brown, but each month I cannot resist peeking at the answers. And each month I’m also somehow surprised as when I discovered that Brown seems remarkably devoted to her husband.

The young Marcel answered the questions at two social events, once when he was 13, another when he was 20. Proust isn’t credited with inventing this party game; but was one of the first interesting persons to give intriguing and revealing answers.

I think the questions are delightfully revealing and fun. I also believe that all writers need to know themselves well and if they write fiction, know their main characters as intimately as they’ve known lovers. So here are the questions—I’d love to hear about your answers:

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
What is your greatest fear?
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Which living person do you most admire?
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
What is your greatest extravagance?
What is your favorite journey?
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
On what occasion do you lie?
Which living person do you most despise?
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
What is your greatest regret?
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
When and where were you happiest?
Which talent would you most like to have?
What is your current state of mind?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
What is your most treasured possession?
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Where would you like to live?
What is your most marked characteristic?
What is the quality you most like in a man?
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
What do you value most in your friends?
Who are your favorite writers?
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Who are your heroes in real life?
What is it that you most dislike?
How would you like to die?
What is your motto?