Is there a place you like to write that's extra special? Have you carved out a writing niche? Is there a certain time of day (or night) when the words fall into place, and your brain is focused on nothing but writing?
I'm not too picky about where I write, but it's got to be free of distractions. In the post before mine, the magnificent Michelle showed us pictures of her desk and it was awesome to behold. But I could never get any work done there. I need a clean space with nothing on it but my computer. No books, no pictures, no nothing. And I even have a special netbook that I use for writing. It doesn't have any games on it or anything. Just Word and iTunes.
I prefer to work outside. There's something about the fresh air that helps me. But during the summer in Florida it gets to be about a billion degrees. Even with a fan blowing right on me, I start sweating up a storm and soaking my computer. So during the summer, I work inside. I actually wrote the entire first draft of Deathday on a folding table on my patio.
Like Michelle, I used to be a night person, but now I'm a morning guy. The first thing I do when I get up in the morning (aside from guzzling coffee) is write. It's when my mind is most uncluttered. I haven't read emails or taken any phone calls. It's just me and my strange thoughts.
So what about you? Where do you do your best work? Check out the awesome Michelle who answered before this (and if you haven't seen them yet, check out the pictures of her cute-as-buttons children pretending to be dead with my book), and then tomorrow, head on over to Abby's blog and see where her brilliance comes from :)
That's a very smart idea to keep your netbook free of games and other distractions.
ReplyDeleteAlone with your strange thoughts? LOL!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a clean, uncluttered place to write, but it will never happen. I love writing outdoors, too. I wrote a bunch of one MS while sitting on my in-laws' deck in Florida--made it hard to imagine my winter hideaway when it was 85 degrees outside and an alligator was swimming closeby.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to have a fairly uncluttered writing space when we reconfigure our office. I'm with you though on having a somewhat clean space. If there are things on the desk, there are things to distract me. I need to create a separate profile on my laptop though that disables the Internet and locks down the desktop.
ReplyDeleteOh, and no complaining about the heat in Florida. At least you have the option of camping out on the beach with your netbook if you wanted :)
I tried to do the same for my netbook by just having my WordPerfect and I-tunes. I don't know where the Internet and games snuck in.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. I love writing in the great outdoors. Actually I love writing just about anywhere. Great post!
ReplyDeleteGive me tunes and a document on which to write and I'm good. :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sandra - BRILLIANT!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the uncluttered space. I just moved my desk into our reading room, which has very little in it and is painted in a soothing -- and disappearing -- dark olive color. Nothing exists but the laptop.
ReplyDeleteI do better with uncluttered spaces to write too. Just get too distracted otherwise. The thought of writing on an enclosed patio is really nice.
ReplyDeleteWriting outdoors sounds like a lovely thing.
ReplyDeleteA desk totally clear of any clutter except for a computer. Sitting in front of my own desk - the top of which can barely be seen - I try to imagine such a scenario and fail.
ReplyDelete