Where do you write?

[Writers Blocked]

I'm absolutely certain that this is not the first time this question has been asked, but the search was inconclusive and besides, it's time it was asked again.

So where do we all like to write?

Personally, I have a great little table down the local pub where I can hide away with my laptop. But thanks to my debilitating fear of public writing, most of my writing is done at home. I rescued a nice comfy chair when we got the new sofa so I tend to write in my bedroom, away from television, views and with the wireless turned off.

Oh and the also asked question would be this, how do you feel about writing in public?

 

[chrispenycate]

I write (manually, for later transfer to digits) on busses, longer works on trains; I write in restaurants, and have been known to walk off with the table cloth.

Airports and doctors waiting rooms have seen my notepads, as have railway station seats, the insides of aeroplanes and a bench in Meadowhall while waiting for my nieces to clothes shop.

I prefer it to be warm enough my fingers don't stick to the pencil, and dry enough the paper doesn't fall apart. No one has ever inquired what I'm doing; It's obvious what I'm doing,

I find it difficult to write standing up, so when there's nothing to sit on I prepare blocks to be written, in my head. I suppose I could dictate notes into my mobile phone; but then people might think I was odd.

 

[Malloriel]

Don't we think you're odd already, Chris? ^_^

Best writing situations for me are to have a comfy seat and a desk up close to me. I can't have distracting sounds, like tv or conversation, flying at me, so I prefer some place tucked away from the household commons, despite the living room having wonderful lighting midafternoon.

I love to bring my work out in public, but it's usually to work on more supplementary issues, such as various plots for various stories, world building, magic systems, races, etc., as the actual writing takes so much more of my focus than I find I'm able to give casually.

And while I find music inspiring, I can't generally have any on when writing my chapters since, at some point, it stops being relevant to the mood and then it's just distracting.

 

[Precision Grace]

I like to write the basics, flashing out ideas, snippets of plot and characterisation - in public. Usually I write in coffee shops, I like to observe passers by and work them into my writing. Sometimes people are obviously trying to crane their necks and see what I'm writing but, because I write in notepads and my hand writing is awful, this is seldom an issue. The biggest problem is when I'm trying to describe what someone looks like and I'm too obvious. Then I have to write about something else until the person in question has forgotten about the weirdo looking at them long enough for me to resume.

The next stage is to transcribe the stuff from the notepad to the laptop. This is where the first batch of editing takes place as well. This, I have to do at the dining table (I have no desk) and without distractions. I'm not sure if music helps or hinders. It doesn't bother me when I'm writing in public but when I'm trying to tidy up what I've written, then I can't have any other stimuli around.

 

[mixa]

On a desk in a Spartan room. I make sure the desk is facing the blank wall.

The desk is devoid of all things which could distract me. Apart from a pad of white paper.

The key is to make sure there is no possibility of internet access. So I deliberately switched off wireless access for the house and the laptop.

One cup of coffee to get me started. I know I am doing well when I go for a sip and the coffee is cold....

 

[Writers Blocked]

Oh that internet access can be great when you need to do research, but it's funny how research turns into reading what people are up to on these forums, checking for new email........ but it's OK, I can do the writing tomorrow

 

[Susan Boulton]

I used to write on the main family machine, which was great when we only had dial-up internet. You had to make the effort to connect it, it was slow, therefore unless I wanted to use it it was too frustrating to wait for the pages to load, so I didn't spend so much time on the net.

But, 12 months ago we got a new machine and broad-band and my writing took a nose dive, so I now have a lap top, with no internet access. This I use to write and edit, making me far more productive.

 

[Talysia]

It's going to sound a bit mundane, but I write in the living room, sitting in a comfortable chair with my writing book and pen in hand. I tend to like as few distractions as possible, too, so when I'm finally getting around to typing up what I've written, I make an effort to try and ignore the internet! It gets rather difficult at times, though.

 

[RcGrant]

My medium depends on my mood, and where I am in a story; I can write just as easily by hand, or on the laptop.

I suppose most regularly, I either write cross-legged on my bed, or on the floor in the back office at work, on my lunch hour. I've recently bought a netbook to make it a little quicker, cutting out having to type up when I get home, but somehow I still manage to accumulate little scraps of paper and receipts at the bottom of my bag.

I like writing in coffee shops too, or on public benches when it's warm. I've stopped in the middle of Waterstones, leaned against a wall, and scribbled away from time to time too.

I don't suppose I feel self-conscious; too busy writing for that.

 

[Lith]

I write my notes everywhere, on anything I can get my hands on. I've even written things on my wrists (except due to circumstances, it ended up leaving reverse prints on things I touched that day...).

I'll take my notebooks anywhere, but I prefer to have them unmarked and can't seem to get much done on a laptop in public- too... public. Otherwise I write at home, lately at a desk (wow, I have a desk now!) or in bed, but I try not to do that so much now because it was giving me a lot of neck-cramps.

I've also made a bigger effort to do more work (especially revision) by hand, though the computer's easier to work with.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Over the years, I've had my writing desk in every room of the house (although it wasn't always the same house), except the kitchen and the bathroom. Not having a room to myself was always chaotic when there were four children in the house -- but then I was younger and it was easier to tune out the distractions. For a long time we also had a friend living with us. When I've been lucky, and the inhabitants of the house relatively few, I've had a little room to myself, but that's never lasted very long. At one point, we turned a storage shed into my office. It looked rather like a fairy tale cottage on the outside and a hobbit's house on the inside, so that was nice, but it was impossible to keep it warm enough in the winter.

Now that there are six adults and two toddlers living here, I write in a room that my daughter also uses as her sewing and craft room, and people are always running in and out, so it's far from peaceful even when the sewing machine isn't going. Eventually, I think I'll switch places with my husband, who has his computer in a corner of the bedroom.

His computer is the one I'm typing on now. I have no internet access on my own computer, or much of anything besides Appleworks, which I use for writing. For one thing, it's less of a distraction for me, and for another it keeps family members off my computer, because my computer is so boring, and I don't have to fight with anyone when I want to use it.

 

[David Gullen]

- Work days in the cafe nearby the office at lunch times.
- Monday evenings in central London in a writing session called Million Monkeys (www.millionmonkeys.org.uk)
- Weekends usually in the big chair in the back room, or if it's nice sitting on the garden step.

 

[Writers Blocked]

I really want a garden. I think it would make a huge difference to my writing.

 

[Lith]

Or it'll just soak up all your spare writing time... *looks at own summer*

The peripheral benefits can be good though. It's relaxing, it's good physical activity and, if you get audiobooks, you can "read" while gardening. Could also count as research, depending on what you write.

 

[Writers Blocked]

I don't see any garden of mine getting on the front of a magazine, but a little Boston Legal-style balcony/patio would be a nice place to sit and ponder life, the universe and everything... while enjoying a nice scotch.

 

[Lith]

Or you might just sit and ponder why your carrots aren't growing. All summer long.

(Sorry.)