Most writers have habits or environments that help them think. A short walk, a favorite pen brand, or, in the case of Friedrich von Schiller, a drawer of rotten apples.
While it may be hard to believe, this fact about the German poet has been confirmed in two different biographies. One story is that a visiting writer friend was using his desk, only to be met by a strange stench, which sickened him. Upon further inspection, his friend discovered a drawer filled with rotting apples. His wife also found the drawer by accident, and appalled by the smell and sight of her husband's strange collection.
When questioned, Fiedrich answered them both with the same explanation: the smell of the rotting apples helped him work. This was befuddling to his writer friend and, I assume, agitating to his wife. I must say, I am impressed that she put up with it. Though she probably had accepted her fate of encountering odd things when she decided to marry an author.
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