Today is Ernest Hemingway's birthday. Born in Oak Park, Ill. in 1899, he is best known for his books A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and The Old Man and the Sea.

What is less known is that he started his writing career in 1917 after graduating from high school. His first job was as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. Although his time at the newspaper was short (he enlisted in the Red Cross during WWI and subsequently moved to Europe), he learned some important lessons while working in the news business: the importance of "short sentences, short paragraphs, active verbs, authenticity, compression, clarity and immediacy."

Of this time in his life, Hemingway said: "Those were the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing. I've never forgotten them."

After World War I, Hemingway returned to the U.S. and decided that he wanted to continue his work as a journalist. In 1921, he accepted a position as the Paris correspondent for the Toronto Star.

"[In Paris], he rented himself a room in a hotel, and every morning, after breakfast, he would walk to his writing room and work. But instead of writing stories, he just tried to write what he called "true sentences." He said, "I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, 'Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.'"

Between January and April 1922, Hemingway had composed only six sentences that he was proud of. One of those sentences read, "I have stood on the crowded back platform of a seven o'clock ... bus as it lurched along the wet lamp-lit street while men who were going home to supper never looked up from their newspapers as we passed Notre Dame gray and dripping in the rain."." [Read more at Writer's Almanac]

I have heard many anecdotes about Hemingway--about how he wrote an average of 500 to 1,000 words a day during most of his lifetime, about the time he spent in Paris, Africa, Key West, and Cuba, about his turbulent relationships and personal life. This, however, was my first time hearing this particular one.

On Ernest Hemingway's birthday, I think I'll try to write one true sentence ... who knows, it may prove to be the beginning of my next short story or (dare I say it?) ... ummm... book!

Happy Birthday EH.