ranted at nobody

sloan crossley discussing writing routines on GAL:

GAL: That reminds me a bit of Truman Capote’s routine.

SC: What did he do?

GAL: He  would only work from bed—he said he had to be horizontal to write—and he would be in his pajamas with his typewriter on his knees, and he’d move from coffee to mint tea to sherry to a martini throughout the day. He’d also smoke in bed, and his superstition was that he couldn’t have more than three cigarette butts in the ashtray at one time. I tried it for a week—

SC: You did not. You smoked in bed and did the sherry and all of that?

GAL: Okay, the smoking—I was like, “I’m not picking up smoking.” But I don’t drink, and I did that. I thought that maybe the writing would flow, but I really just kind of ranted at nobody, and punched the air with my finger a lot.