Table of Contents

Introduction

 

1 "Speaking to the Eyes": Beginnings

2 The Feather Is Mightier Than the Sword

3 Inkwells, Steel Nibs, Billions of Ballpoints

4 The Properly Pointed, Perfectly Portable Pencil

5 The Long Reign of Longhand

6 "First, I Write by Hand. . . ."

7 The Almighty Typewriter. Can You Hear the Rhythm?

8 Hail the Conquering Word Processor

9 Pins, Paste, Scissors, Recorders. The Right Paper, Please

10 Out of Their Mouths Popped Literature

11 Keep Out! Writer at Work

12 To Hide Out, or Greet Life

13 Panoramas, Bare Walls, Strange Habits

14 While Working on It, Shut Up About It. Or Don't

15 They Wrote Lying Down, Standing Up, Stark Naked

16 Horror Rolls in, "Like Some Poisonous Fogbank"

17 Blocked!

18 "I'm a Drinker With a Writing Problem"

19 The Wrong Stuff

20 Walking the Walk, and Other Steps to Creation

21 Burning Kisses, Animal Magnetism

22 The Daily and Nightly Grind

23 "And How I Get There Is God's Grace"

24 "We Are Only Telephone Wires"

25 What's Worse Than Writing? NotWriting

26 From the Great French Hunter of "le Mot Juste": le Mot Dernier

 

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Harry Bruce, a Halifax-based author of many books, has been gathering these stories all of his life.

Reviews

"Page Fright is a splendid omnibus of why writers write, what keeps them writing, and what happens when they stop (willingly or not)."
— Globe and Mail

"An essential book. . . . Buy it. Read it." 
— Peter C. Newman

"Page Fright is popcorn for the literary-loving mind." 
— Winnipeg Free Press

"Bruce gives readers much to savour . . . you can virtually start anywhere and find something to inspire and fascinate." 
— Ottawa Citizen

"An effervescent new book."
— National Post

"Entertaining and essential reading for fans of writing."
— Atlantic Books Today

"Page Fright is a splendid omnibus of why writers write, what keeps them writing, and what happens when they stop (willingly or not)."
- Globe and Mail

"An essential book. . . . Buy it. Read it."
- Peter C. Newman

"Page Fright is popcorn for the literary-loving mind."
- Winnipeg Free Press

"Bruce gives readers much to savour . . . you can virtually start anywhere and find something to inspire and fascinate."
- Ottawa Citizen

"An effervescent new book."
- National Post

"Entertaining and essential reading for fans of writing."
- Atlantic Books Today