Living it and writing about it

When I was in my twenties, attending the University of Copenhagen, I sometimes tried a pickup line, saying I was a writer of books. Mostly it didn't work well because the next question would be if I made any money with that, and my wingman, Thomas, would start laughing. However, on some rare occasions, I was lucky when making a joke out of it. Recently I saw a quote by Ernest Hemingway where he said, “In order to write about life, first you must live it.” In my case, I hope that is an accurate statement, as I only started writing about two years ago. So over 25 years ago, I was joking about being a writer, and now I am actually trying to write and build on my experiences from the last 30 years. I still mostly write in a short form as a blogger, and I find that keeps me going, and gradually, I will try to write more in long-form, and this way, I hope to avoid writer's block.

Later, in 2002, in Havana, drinking a mojito at a bar called Copacabana, I was talking to an American lady who said to me; “You are just a few steps away from being Hemingway.” It was true to some extent, just without the writing. It would be outstanding living and writing like Hemingway staying at the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Old Havana or by the sea in Cojimar, where he wrote The Old Man and the Sea and hanging out at the now-famous bars Floridita and Bodeguita del Medio. Well, I actually did something like that, and I wasn’t very productive. I couldn’t imagine writing like that, isolated from the rest of the world. I hear this advice:  to write, you should be off the internet and read many books. My writing process until now has been different as I use the internet several hours a day, and it’s been my platform to write and get practice. I read a lot but mostly articles online, and I listen to podcasts.