" ... a man-like life-form of gigantic proportions" The Sasquatch and the writing process

Writers talk a lot about process. Some writers have a ritual where they play classical music, light incense, and sip camomile tea. Then they dance with the muse. Not me.

I like to Sasquatch myself. As writers we not only get to make up words, we get to put a new spin on old favourites. My favourite word is Sasquatch. You know it as a noun, the elusive hairy man/ape like guy (or maybe you knew it as a former boyfriend or husband – I’m not here to judge).

I use the word sasquatch as a verb, as in to sasquatch oneself or to be sasquatched.

To be sasquatched is to sequester yourself in your writing room, eschew all thoughts and practices of modern hygiene such as bathing, and only emerge to endlessly refill you cup of milky tea and occasionally gnaw on some beef jerky.

So I can be heard to say: “I’m going to sasquatch myself this weekend” or “I’m going to be sasquatched this weekend.” The result of sasquatching yourself is that you get a lot of writing done, and people leave you alone (because you smell).

This Sasquatch seems to like beef jerky and could use a manicure. Here’s the quote from which I pulled the title …

“One is forced to conclude that a man-like life-form of gigantic proportions is living at the present time in the wild areas of the north-western United States and British Columbia. If I have given the impression that this conclusion is-to me-profoundly disturbing, then I have made my point. That such a creature should be alive and kicking in our midst, unrecognized and unclassifiable, is a profound blow to the credibility of modern anthropology.”

- Dr. John Napier, Bigfoot, the Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality