Orwell’s Writing

I have finally accepted that there’s no chance of me getting a job with only six weeks of the summer holiday remaining, even though my swollen foot is much better. So, I’ve resolved to use the remaining time to devote myself to writing. Now, I have to manage this, as I also have my home-life obligations. However, George Orwell managed to write Animal Farm and 1984 while running a sizeable small-holding (growing vegetables, and tending goats and pigs) AND while suffering from the effects of advanced tuberculosis.

Orwell wrote on an old Remington portable typewriter, and would get down to work at different times during the day. There are many obvious disadvantages to using a typewriter (compared with using a Macbook for instance), but one major advantage is that the racket made by 1930s Remington could be heard by everyone in Orwell’s household. So they knew when he was writing, and left him alone!

Now, in my own busy household, that would be truly wonderful!