On Writing by Stephen King (#6)

"When I proposed the idea of a book on writing to my publisher at Scribner, I felt that I knew a great deal about the subject; my head all but burst with the different things I wanted to say. And perhaps I do know a lot, but some of it turned out to be dull and most of the rest, I've discovered, has more to do with the instinct than with anything resembling "higher thought." Also, something happened halfway through the writing of On Writing-a life-changer, as they say." (Page 253)

Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life. That was something I found out in the summer of 1999, when a man driving a blue van almost killed me." (Page 254)

During the third week of June in 1999, Stephen King was hit by a blue van. His leg was broken in nine places, four of his ribs were broken, and his hip was broken & dislocated. Additionally, his bloodied glasses ended up in the front seat of the van which hit him.

After flying over fourteen feet in the air and landing on the gravel shoulder of the road he recalls:

"There is dust around the van's taillights. The license plate and the back windows are dirty. I register these things with no thought that I have been in an accident, or of anything else. It's a snapshot, that's all. I'm not thinking;my head has been swooped clean....I am carefully wiping palmfuls of blood out of my eyes with my left hand." (Page 259)

Stephen King did get back to writing - as a matter of fact he was in the process of writing On Writing when this accident happened.

Several weeks later, after physical therapy and additional operations, he returned home. Hit time to write again had come. He describes the experience of his first day back to writing after the accident:

"There was no miraculous breakthrough that afternoon....There was no sense of exhilaration, no buzz - not that day - but there was a sense of accomplishment that was almost as good. I'd gotten going, there was that much. The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better." (Page 274)

....what a good book this was.