Taduno's Song

This is my life now. I’m grateful that I have arrived at this point. This is where I had always wanted to be; writing full-time is much more challenging than I had imagined, but I’m truly enjoying the experience and learning from it each day.

For me, writing is a journey, and the start of that journey is a well-worn ritual that I must observe for several days before I can even begin.

You showed up claiming to be somebody we know. We all see you as a man who has lost his identity—in fact, a man who has lost his mind…

Studying the handwriting on the envelope, his eyes lit up in recognition. But then a frown crept across his face and he wondered how a letter simply marked TADUNO—no last name, no address, just Taduno—managed to reach him in a nameless foreign town.

I go to sleep at about 8.30pm, waking up just before midnight to continue my work. It is much calmer at night, there is perfect peace.

I could stay under the shower for an eternity. Maybe in my next life I will come back as a fish.

Build a life elsewhere.

Life is so funny. Ironic. I used to believe that my books would make me rich, but it looks like it might be the computer that produced my books that makes me rich.

Sometimes, when I’m drained from writing, I take a break and count my shoes, of which there are a few dozen. I remember the days when I had no shoes at all, as a child living under a master who had two wives.

Did you have to sneak home like a thief in the night?

I write mostly at night when the world is asleep, and when the world stirs I allow myself a couple of hours’ sleep

It is almost noon by the time I sit down at my perfectly arranged desk, and from then I write until my neighbour’s dogs start to bark. They can’t see me but I glare at them through my window anyway. The harder I glare the louder they bark. I keep writing while they bark and tell myself that I must learn to write to the barking of dogs. If they refuse to stop, I open the window, place a small speaker on the ledge and play loud music. I leave my study for a while and use the opportunity to get something to eat. The music often does the trick: the dogs stop barking and I can return to my study to continue writing.