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Suffering from writer's block? Try the Schiller cure!
"One day, as he waited for his friend to join him, Goethe sat down at Schiller's desk to make some notes. As he wrote, Goethe felt increasingly nauseated and close to fainting. It took a while to realize that a disgusting smell was coming from one of the drawers. . .
Although Charlotte loathed it, Schiller insisted on always having rotting apples nearby. Somehow the sweetly fermenting aroma stimulated his creativity."
(from Andrea Wulf's Magnificent Rebels)
Gingerly, Goethe pulled it open and found it filled to the top with rotting apples. He stumbled up to open a window. When Charlotte Schiller found Goethe gulping fresh air and the desk drawer wide open, she explained that her husband so loved the smell that 'without it he couldn't live or work.'