Picture in your mind’s eye the stereotype of ‘what a writer looks like’.
Got it?
Does it involve a mish-mash of clothes? A voluminous scarf of some kind? Maybe long hair all tied up in a messy pile?
Last night I was working in my office and I felt a bit chilly. I work at home enough to know which layer I’m missing, and I knew I was not quite chilly enough for another sweater, but I needed … something. Like around the neckular area. Something… aha! A big pashmina-type scarf!
Walking back to my office from the front hall closet (<-from whence scarves come), I noticed my reflection in the hall mirror.
Good. god.
Big colourful scarf, check. Long hair messily tied up? Check. (The long hair has a similar function to the scarf btw, it’s mostly about keeping your head and the back of your neck warm.)
Writers aren’t eccentric, they just sit still for long periods of time. Circulation slows down. In fact, if writers didn’t have to get up and eat (and drink coffee) every once in a while, they might eventually become invisible to the naked eye. Buried under layer after layer accumulated during the day. Extra socks, an extra shirt, an extra cardigan, the requisite scarf…
In the most severe cases, one might take on the appearance of Marjory the Trash Heap. I know. Constant vigilance.