'It's what you produce that matters'
Nellie Bly not only was one of thenation’s most famous 19th Century writers but also an adventurerextraordinaire. I’ve long been fascinatedwith the story of her career, writing for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World in the years Pulitzer wasestablishing his own reputation as a champion of the First Amendment andaspiring young writers.
Toward that end he not only gave Bly her chance but also funded many of the adventures that led to someof the day’s most widely read stories. Among those was her “Around The World in 72Days” trip in the Autumn of 1889, pitting her against Jules Verne’s “Around The World in 80 Days”fictional character Phileas Fogg.
The World’s readers hung onher every dispatch as she circumnavigated the globe – a solo young womaneclipsing Fogg’s achievement. Few knowthat en route she took a side trip to Amiens, France, to meet the writer whoinspired her effort.
Her note on thatencounter should inspire all writers.
“When I met Jules Verne and asked tosee his writing desk,” Bly wrote, “I hadexpected to see a hand-carved desk filled with trinkets, but I only saw aplain, flat-topped one. It was in asmall room, modest and bare, with a single latticed window. It made merealize that it isn’t the place that you write that matters; it’s what youproduce that matters.”
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