Where Do You Write?

Everyone has a favorite place to write. It might be in a crowded and noisy coffee shop, a quiet corner in the library, or a special spot in your home, or maybe a sandy beach with palm trees swaying gently in the wind. It is where we feel comfortable, where the juices flow, where the Muse sits on our shoulder and whispers in our ear.

It’s also the place where the Muse spits into our brains before abandoning us, where our fingers sit unmoving on the keyboard, and where our lives feel empty and lonely. This is where we work. We put our butts into the chair, and pour ourselves on to the page.

One of the things that differentiates working places is noise level. Do you prefer silence, or does the background hubbub of a coffee shop get you into the zone?

I’m lucky enough to have an office in my home. I can close the door, shut out the world, and get the job done. But I also move around. I can sit on the couch with the TV on in the background or on my back patio in the summer. When we had renovations done on our house, I sat in my cars back seat with the laptop resting on my knees.

This is what my office looks like. Is it always this messy? Yeah, pretty much.  Sorry for the poor quality.

Gerald's Office

What if you are not lucky enough to have an office, what can you do to get your writing space? Here are some ideas for you.

  1. Take over a corner of your home. Put in a small desk and a chair, and you are set. If you have other people around, make sure they know if you are in your corner, you are working. Interruptions only in case of emergency.
  2. If it helps, get a small room divider and put that up. Separating your work space from your living space can increase productivity.
  3. Convert a closet into a desk area. If you have the extra closet, you can build a desk in the closet and have a work space you can close the door on.
  4. Find a coffee shop that doesn’t mind you hanging around for a couple of hours. You’ll get people moving and talking all around you, so be sure you can deal with it. Find a table in the corner and set yourself up. There are some etiquette points to remember. Make sure you have a coffee or two, and maybe a small something to eat. In other words, pay your rent. If the place gets busy, be prepared to give up or share your spot. If you have been taking up space for a few hours and nursed that coffee, give the table up to paying customers.
  5. The library is a great place. Everyone is a bit quieter in there, and it is pretty easy to find a corner to get the job done. The beautiful vanilla scent of old books fills the air, providing you with the rich history of published authors. It may help the Muse stick around.

The reality is that writing is a job. It’s a business that needs you to work. If you rely on that special place to get your writing done, you may be doing it wrong. If you want to get the story written, you need to write wherever and whenever you can, like a soldier that learns to sleep no matter where he or she is.

Are you in an airplane? There’s a couple of quiet hours. A passenger in a car? Every 20 minutes counts. Your job is to write. Having a nice place to do it a bonus, but not a necessity.

Here are some images for you to look at: http://www.whereiwrite.org/bova.php

What is your writing space like?

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