This Is One Way to Do It

If Ludwig Bemelmans hadn't drawn pictures on his walls, he'd never had written "Madeline."

Anyway, from today's Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of the author of the "Madeline" books, Ludwig Bemelmans, born in Meran, Tyrol, Austria (1898). He was rebellious as a child. He went to many different schools, but he failed out of all them, so his family sent him to work with his uncle, who owned a chain of hotels. When he shot and almost killed a waiter for one of the hotels, his parents gave him the choice of reform school or emigration to America. He chose America and arrived in New York when he was 16 years old.

He worked at a series of hotels and then started his own restaurant, which became very successful. He didn't think about becoming a writer until a friend in the publishing industry happened to see his childlike drawings on the walls of his apartment. His friend suggested that he write and illustrate a children's book.

And so he wrote his famous book Madeline (1939) ...

I wonder if writing on walls gave him the inspiration for the crack on the ceiling that had the habit of sometimes looking like a rabbit.