Didn't Harlan Ellison do a stunt where he sat in a window of a store with a typewriter to write short stories for an audience? Back in the '70s. . .

Yeah, it got national TV coverage. When asked why he did it, he basically said that he wanted to show that writing is a job like any other, it's hard work, and that you have to sit your ass down and just do it; he wanted to dis-spell people's 'romanticized' ideas of writing (fame, inspiration, muses, etc.).

I recently got turned on to Ellison from seeing his biopic 'Dreams with Sharp Teeth' on Netflix, and tried to find some of his work around town, specifically "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman. I tried 4 separate bookstores, but none had anything by him in stock, I was very perplexed. So I ended up illegally pirating many of his works. Somehow I doubt he'd appreciate the irony.