Po Bronson holds a special place in my Pantheon of Authors. He’s a great writer of all sorts of things, but that’s not what I think of when I hear his name. No, Po is the author who got me through one of the most awful airline trips of my life. It happened this way.
I was headed home from India with a raging stomach “condition” to keep me company. By the time I got to the airport in Mumbai I was sure there was nothing left inside me. By the time we landed in Abu Dhabi I realized how optimistic I had been.
I felt awful. There was a long time between planes in Abu Dhabi, followed by two long flights, first to Europe and then to the US. I wanted something to read to keep my mind off my stomach.
In the bookstore I found a copy of Po Bronson’s Bombardiers. It wasn’t available in the US at the time. I had read his The Nudist on the Night Shift and thought it captured a world I knew pretty well, so I thought I’d give his earlier work a try.
It was incredible. Think of it as a kind of Joseph Heller meets Michael Lewis. I chortled constantly. Every few pages I’d laugh out loud, my stomach maladies forgotten.
All of that came flooding back when I found the following bit of Bo’s writing advice. You can find more on his web site.
“Write from your whole self. If you have a sense of humor, make sure that flavor’s in your writing. If you like talking ideas, make sure there are ideas in your writing. Anything less will be unsustainable.”
Want more? Check out the complete list of Advice from the Masters posts