In which Asimov explains how tough life is as a writer.
This is one of two delightful bits of comic verse (“The Foundation of SF Success” is the other)—with rhythm and rhyme scheme stolen from some guy named Gilbert—found in Earth is Room Enough. It’s very clever, a lot of fun, and easy to sing; it’s worth buying Earth is Room Enough or The Complete Stories, Volume One just for this piece.
Here, using the Lord Chancellor’s “Nightmare Song” from Iolanthe as a guide (my favorite song from my favorite Gilbert and Sullivan operetta), Asimov goes through the sort of problems he also raises in "Dreaming is a Private Thing,” how distracted one is as one thinks incessantly of plots. As I say, it’s a lot of fun and a definite high point in my Asimov reading for me.
