I asked a variation of this question in the early days on the blog, back in 2007 when it was written on a typewriter and sent around via telegraph. And, well, the immense variation in writing habits fascinates me, plus we have lots of new faces. So I thought I’d go back to this one:
Where do you write?
Not necessarily the city and state/country, although that would be nice too, but where specifically is your favorite writing spot?
The only time I can write is after my two toddlers go to sleep.
Usually I’m in bed with my 16-month old boy sleeping next to me.
For first draft I am sadly anal – it has to be at my computer desk, with the door closed, no music,earplugs at the ready, depending on next door.
Editing is different. Anywhere comfortable.
At an over-sized desk purchased at Goodwill for $35. I think it was a drafting desk b/c the drawer is as wide and deep as the desk (doesn’t suck). I love the drawer and the deal and the space. It sits in front of a sunny window overlooking the river.
Wow! There are a lot of comments here.
I get the most done at my kitchen table. I’ve tried writing outside and it’s always too bright or windy or beautiful or distracting. If I’m trying to capture a sensation though, I try to go where I might experience that. But I can write almost anywhere the mood strikes.
I’ve got receipts with ideas and sequences on the back because I didn’t have paper.
I also have to have my notebook and pen next to my bed. I always seem to work things out while I’m sleeping.
Loved reading where everyone writes but wouldn’t it be something if everyone posted a link to where you hang out. This happened with some writers in an article in The Guardian which I blogged about- find link here http://evaulian-thebestoftheworst.blogspot.com/2008/05/95-writers-rooms.html
That was about a year ago. I’ve since changed my computers and you can see an update version of my writing space here: http://www.freewebs.com/evaulian/index.htm?archived=1
Anyone else have a link to their writing space?
Either on my laptop at my kitchen table, or coffee shops. I definitely prefer coffee shops, though. There’s one not too far from my house that has a fireplace, plays good music, and is always filled with great people. I feel like it’s a little version of Cheers…everyone knows your name there. Great coffee, too.
Tucked up in bed with my laptop and a nice steaming hot cup of tea.
Or, down at the beach, the old fashioned way with pen and paper. There you will find me sitting on a comfortable park bench under an old pohutakawa tree (New Zealand Christmas tree) gazing out to sea when the words won’t come.
I have to be at home, and at a computer. The words come into my head so fast that I can’t keep up with them with a pencil and paper, and if I write in public, I feel like I’m showing off. Peace and no noise (whatsoever) is a must.
I have tons of spiral notebooks hidden in every room and every car I frequent. I like to fill up three or four notebooks before I start staying up into the early AM transfering everything to my laptop. My two year old and my dogs don’t really allow me to use my office. But I have one of those too!
I have become so computer orientaed that the words flow much faster and easier for me on the screen. I have a small bedroom set up as an office, and that’s where I write in the winter.
In the summer (not very long in the UK) I take my laptop out into the garden which is so relaxing and peaceful and usually puts my muse in a good mood.
I love writing outdoors and will use a pen and paper if the laptop isn’t with me, and I find myself in a secluded spot, but then it takes a long time deciphering my almost illegible scrawl!
Ideally I write in complete silence and solitude, which only happens late at night. Since I don’t have a laptop and limited time, I’ve learned to write whenever I can steal a minute (I don’t like long hand because I write as fast as I think) and often play music specific to the main character to drown out noise. I work out a lot of scenes in my sleep, but unfortunately my most eloquent statements come in that hazy moment between wakefulness and sleep.
Anywhere I can.
At my desk, almost always. The more frightening question would be “where do you get your ideas?” This almost always includes zoning out while driving. So far all parties are injury free, but I may have inspired some road rage. Sorry.
As long as my laptop is with me, and a plug is nearby, I can write anywhere with minimal distraction. I prefer the quiet of home, whether in the living room or out on the lanai (yes I live in FL).
I like hanging at the bookstore to people watch, but could never write with a bunch of people bustling about.
I write and revise on my computer in the corner of the dining room with a window that looks out at Mt. Lemmon with landscape of saugaro cactuses and desert wildlife…no kidding. Coyotes, wild rabbits, quail, doves, javelinas and cardnials and dozens of sparrows. I always carry pen and paper with me wherever I go.
From New Hope, Pennsylvania. My favorite place to write when no one else is home is our family/ play room / everything room. The walls are mostly window and I look out at our small farm. I have seen everything from a fox chasing a mouse to geese strutting to the pond flooding. Also, our Wifi doesn’t reach into that room so when stuck I have to work through a problem rather than check my email or wander to YouTube.
Beauty that keep my nose to the grindstone, the perfect combination.
I set up a desk in my living room, but rarely write there. I like the kitchen table late at night. We have a huge window and I love the connection to the outside world. I also like to sit in the Laz-E-Boy, with the footrest extended and type away.
But I have a question for all the writers. It has taken me a long time to accept that I prefer to write on my computer, rather than with a pen and paper. I haven’t read a writing book in ages, but the ones I remember always stressed the importance of that physical connection to the written word that is achieved with pen and paper. I wonder if we’ve entered into a new era where most writers prefer to write on laptops and if we’re losing anything by abandoning writer’s cramp. I also wonder if we’ve gained anything as well via laptop writing that perhaps isn’t available to us thru writing with pen and paper. I love the speed with which I can write on the computer and I love the editing process as well on the computer.
I like to hear how others feel about this.
Thanks.
CPK
I have a lovely office on the top floor of our mountain home, it looks out over the mountains and usually does the trick. If I get stuck or lonely, I go to our little library or the local coffee shop, although I tend to run into a lot of friends there and get distracted!
I have a laptop, which fits in my handbag, so that is with me 24/7. I write everywhere, but especially on the train to and from work. Then – if i’m not oo exhausted, I write in bed at home. I must always have music though. Writing to silence is not my thing.
I do have a dedicated library at home for writing, however, my flatmate keeps using it to ‘surf the net’, which has just slightly upset my Feng Shui with the room. I really must talk to her about that – becuase it’s an amzing room that overlooks my garden.
I have small children, so I am more or less tethered to home. In winter months I write in my bed while the kids are taking their nap. I’m lucky, and it’s a good three hours of peace and quiet. In the summer I sit out on my front porch, watch the world go by, listen to the birds sing, and hope inspiration stikes.
A room devoid of windows and any sound not initiated by me. Also no internet.
I have distractibility issues.
For every day, I write anywhere I can by carrying around my Alphasmart.
My favourite escape is a little nook in the Georgetown Inn in Canmore Alberta. The antique/Victorian surroundings really soothe and inspire me.
I write the best in my bathroom. I’ve got small children, so it’s the only place I can escape to. Once they’re in bed, I soak in the tub, and write. It’s relaxing the creativity just flows.
So fun to hear where everyone finds their inspiration. I especially liked the idea of writing while getting a pedicure. Nice!
I write from the right side of my bed with my laptop resting on one of those ultra-comfy e-pads (you can buy them from Brookstone). I also have four large windows without coverings that showcase a spectacular view of the woods in my backyard. There’s a whole lot of inspiration coming from those trees.
And with a bag of Ghiradelli chocolates on my nightstand, it’s a heavenly place to write.
If you like to see where I stand in my writing career, you can visit https://www.mindifiwrite.blogspot.com
Happy Writing People!
I have a desk in my living room where I write on my HP computer.
It’s sure a long way from where I first started out over 60 years ago with a pencil and yellow lined notepad.
Then came the Remington non-electric typewriter followed by the IBM Selectric.
Sure changed a lot over the years.
At a coffee shop in Fort Collins, Colorado called La Dolce Vita. I always order a pot of organic Assam tea. It’s the best.
I don’t have a laptop, let alone a computer, so I’ll write just about anywhere really. I just need my pen, my paper and some gumption.
I have a whole office dedicated to working from home (and writing which is part of that)…. I don’t write there. I write on a antique laptop (Pentium III anyone?) usually sitting on the bed in the mornings listening to directors comments on DVD’s. There is something about hearing someone else dissecting their work that puts me in a creative mood.
At the moment I am writing at work. I work in the dark confines of a prison as a Correctional Officer. I am waiting for a housing unit I am working in to open… so for now, I have 12 hours of free time to write my new YA novel.
I like to write, after work, at the kitchen table facing the tv (I like the moving pictures but the volume is usually low). Sadly I work best after work because my mind is numb from the day and needs to be unleashed.
I edit on my lunch breaks at work. I don’t write well at work but editing comes easy.
Even when I become the HUGE author I plan on being, I guess I’ll still have to have a dreaded day job. Pity.
I write at my computer on the desk in my living room; but one of my favorite places is at this cool bar I visit once in a while. I love the mix of new characters to give me inspiration.
I write at my dining room table; a table that stretches out so long I have a fantasy of having dinner with my husband sitting at the far end, wearing a tux, pouring a luscious red wine, and speaking in a British accent. But, that would never happen, because if we ever sat down to a meal that far apart, he would instantly grab a sheet of paper, fold it into a tiny triangle and launch a game of paper football. The table is perched at the level of nearby skyscrapers, smack dab in the middle of a room defined by floor to ceiling windows penetrated by grey skies and, most days, rain. But, rain is good. Rain equals work, because when the sun finally decides to make an appearance, it shows up big, like a drag queen dressed to the hilt in disco ball silver, so blinding that I can’t see my screen. It’s like taking your laptop to the beach in Cancun, the white sand itself enough to diminish vision. But, above is better than below, though not in the smug way it sounds. In college, I wrote from below. My distractions weren’t seagulls flying dangerously close to my windows or hovering bumblebees so fat and velvety they look as though they’re wearing bumblebee costumes. Rather, they were hairy ankles dressed in hairier socks, mud encrusted Doc Martins, and black Artic Cat snow boots tracking their way past my window, each step crunching the snow like 200 teeth simultaneously biting into the tight skins of apples. They were eerie cats staring from predatory positions, which could have gone unnoticed had it not been for the prickling sensation that always inched up my neck, tipping me off. They were the black bellies of spiders scaling a well stocked web or a stray French fry container blowing across the tips of the grass like a beach ball bouncing off the outstretched fingers of a rock concert crowd, the crumpled yellow burger wrapper following closely behind. And, the always unnerving frat boy peeking in my window, his head turned upside down in the exact position of the child snatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. So, I’ll take my super sized table set near the never-ending acoustics of rain pounding against my window, which begins as something symphonic, but ends like mallets playing my skull like a xylophone, any day over a close up of the animal world; and, by animal, I mean frat boy.
Incredibly, I wrote my best when I spent four months in homeless shelters. That’s when most of my book was written. There’s nothing like severely limited computer time and vaguely threatening people breathing down your neck to accelerate the creative process. Not to mention the really scary staff who’d cut you off if you did anything but search for housing. I barely wasted a minute surfing or chatting online with people I’d never met. I don’t write as consistently now that I’m sitting at my own nice desk with a view of the mountains. Not that I’d trade back 😀
My lord! I have never seen so many comments in my life!
Where do I write? From my bed on my laptop while watching bad tv in the background whilst eating cheese balls and gummi worms.
Great question!
http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/84292/profile
A sensitive compilation of the “You Tell Me: Where Do You Write? comments. Like most writers, odd but not original.
My office, my car, the bathroom…wherever inspiration hits.
I can make notes anywhere and at any time; half asleep in total darkness, on the beach half blinded by sun and blown up sand, even in a plane – shaken and stirred by turbulence!
But when I write, I need my computer, desk, dusty books of wisdom and organized trash around me.
In my study with a view of the smokies.
When it’s warm, on my porch, with a view of the smokies.
ahhhh….
Depends on what I am writing. If a features/news article, children’s book, or objective and factual information then in my “work” clothes and in a coffeeshop/restaurant like Panera is great. Otherwise, at the desk in our office.
If writing a fiction piece, or very introspective essay/article then in my creating room, sitting on the guest bed with my laptop.
I have to write at home only. Usually on the couch with my laptop. I recently moved to FL from WI, to a building beside the ocean. The ocean! And you would think I would write from the balcony overlooking the gorgeous view, but alas, inside the house with as little noise and distraction as possible is the only way the muse will come out. I’m sure if you put a couch in a cardboard box with a lamp I’d be in my perfect writing space. Oh, I must also chew on something crunchy to help my train of thought chug along. Neurotic?
This is my comment on here …
We moved to a small and pretty village, have an old house and a den, something I’ve always wanted. It’s painted in refreshing blues which remind me of my travel days. My partner is building me a summer house at the bottom of our woodland garden and I shall buy a table and chair and sit here and write too; it overlooks a derelict apple orchard, and around the summerhouse will be flowers – all refreshingly inspirational! Lesley : 0 )
I like to write anywhere I can hook up my computer, but pen and paper work just as well for me so when I’m on the fly I keep those in my purse- just in case. While I’m driving I take along my trusty recorder and talk to myself as long as the babies aren’t in the back of the car yelling. Scary to think my husband is right! I do always write no matter what!
My favorite place to write is in nature. At a nice park sitting by a tree, or up in the mountains. However, I rarely get that chance. I will ultimately write where ever and when ever an idea strikes. Whether that be in school, at the library, home in bed, or anywhere else.
I have two children. Writing while they are awake is hard, I would say even impossible. In the beginning I wrote at night – at home. Then when I started to faint from exhaustion, I decided that I'll write during the day. I changed my daily schedule and now I write until noon, after leaving the kids to school. I found a cafe near the school. With many clients and very noisy. But with headphones on my ears, with fast internet, good coffee and secluded booth – this is a great place for writing.
No permanent place in awhile; driving me nuts. Recently I wrote 8 handwritten pages (turned out to be 10 d.s. typed pages) in a notebook while curled up in a big chair in my living room while my better half watched television. Tried to do that today–nada. I edited well at work last week; not this week. The office at home doesn't do it for me anymore. Sigh. Drives ya crazy.