Quirky novelist Tom Robbins, 92, died on Feb. 9. Robbins worked as a newspaperman and radio broadcaster; his first book was Another Roadside Attraction (1971). Already, he was using the picaresque, rambling plots and loopy sentences that would become his trademark. He went on to write the equally oddball novels Skinny Legs and All, Jitterbug Perfume, Still Life with Woodpecker, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (which became a 1993 Gus Van Sant movie). Robbins also worked as an actor (American Playhouse, Made in Heaven, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Breakfast of Champions). “I have some tools in my backpack to draw on before I just let go and see where the gravity takes me,” Robbins said of his writing process. “Challenge every single sentence; challenge it for lucidity, accuracy, originality, and cadence. If it doesn’t meet the challenge, work on it until it does . . . Above all, have a good time. If you aren’t enjoying writing it, you can hardly expect someone else to enjoy reading it.”
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