L is for Location, location, location! (or, where I write)
For years, I didn't have a set space for writing. I had a laptop in college, so I wrote wherever I could find the space. When we moved to North Carolina, I bought a beautiful desk and a desktop, and I started to claim my writing space.
For two years, my computer also served as our T.V./DVD player, so my writing desk sat in the wide open living room. I didn't realize how hard it was for me to write in shared family space until we bought the house and I claimed a bedroom as my office. (To be fair, it turns into a guest room whenever we have company, but still, it's mostly mine.)
I relish the ability to shut the door and fall into my writing, but I have also learned to appreciate writing in public places, like coffee shops.
During NaNoWriMo last year, a good friend and I made weekly writer's dates, meeting at Starbucks for an hour or two of quiet, companionable writing. To my surprise, I was profoundly productive on our outings. I am learning how to incorporate writing at home and writing away into my process.
When I revise, I have a third location: the dining table. With the curtain open and light streaming in, I am more productive revising Kindle to notebook than I have ever been staring at the computer screen. Once again, it's new and strange: I subscribe very firmly to the idea that anyone must have "a room of one's own" to write (more on that later in the month), but I am learning flexibility in my location.
Where do you write? Do you have a favorite setting/desk/tool that you have to use whenever you write, or can you sit down anywhere and craft a story?
I find sitting at the small table in the kitchen, surrounded by piles of ironing tends to be my most productive place. Usually when the kids have gone to bed and it's quiet. I long for a room of my own to write in and have a 'home' for all my tools, but for now, it will have to live in boxes and plastic bags that can move around with me, and more importantly out of sight and reach of prying children lol.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the rest of the challenge.
Nicky, it sounds like you've carved out a little haven for yourself: good for you! Portable space is still yours. Keep writing, and thanks for dropping by!
DeleteI just carved out a writing room this year - it's heaven. Going to head there now as a matter of fact!
ReplyDeleteYou rock!! Just got home from a day of middle school subbing, and am currently locked in my writing room trying to work up the energy to, well, write!
DeleteWow, your writing desk looks great, Jen! Wish you many many fruitful hours at it!
ReplyDeleteI've never had a designated place to write, I used to sit on the couch with the laptop. I moved this spring, and now I have a desk in the living room, and I love it! But, frankly, I get most writing done on the run, or at work during breaks. It took some getting used to and loud music in my headphones to be able to write in a loud and crowded office, but meanwhile I can write in any place and any circumstance. :)
Vero, I'm jealous!! I wish I had that ability to focus: I've gotten so spoiled with my office! But I just remind myself that I've been writing long before I had a room, and I will go on writing. That's what counts, right?
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