How many hours a day do you spend writing? Do you have a place where you go to write? An office, a table, a chair with your computer in your lap? I have an office, a desk and a chair. The guest room is my "office" except when guests show up. If we have guests, I move upstairs to a fold-out table and a chair.
For close to two months now, I've been in my office working at a card table and a chair. That's because everything that was upstairs in our bedroom has now been moved to the loft area. The desk is still in my downstairs office, but there's not enough room for the chair now that the couch is folded out with three mattresses atop it. (We had to take a smaller mattress from our son's bed in order to fit our mattress onto the couch.) This is not where I'm used to working, but I'm getting work done on my next book.
Why am I working in the guest room? Late one night, the roof of our house was mostly blown off and rain poured in, seeped into the carpet, through the flooring and down into the kitchen.
A neighbor sent over one of his employees to put the roof back on. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This past Tuesday was the first time people recommended by our insurance company came out to assess the damage and determine what needed to be fixed. It'll take a bit of time since there's a lot to do. The upstairs deck was torn apart. All the carpet will have to be replaced. Wood beams in the kitchen downstairs will have to be removed and replaced, as will part of the ceiling above the sink. And on and on.
What I'm wondering is where do you write? If you could not write there, what would be your second choice of a writing spot? Do you write with the TV in the background? I can be easily distracted by the TV in the living room or the phone ringing. If there are people here watching TV, I shut the door to my office.
Do you need silence? Or do you have music or the TV playing in the background?
I'm a "silence" writer. If it's quiet, I can hear characters talking in my head.
For close to two months now, I've been in my office working at a card table and a chair. That's because everything that was upstairs in our bedroom has now been moved to the loft area. The desk is still in my downstairs office, but there's not enough room for the chair now that the couch is folded out with three mattresses atop it. (We had to take a smaller mattress from our son's bed in order to fit our mattress onto the couch.) This is not where I'm used to working, but I'm getting work done on my next book.
Why am I working in the guest room? Late one night, the roof of our house was mostly blown off and rain poured in, seeped into the carpet, through the flooring and down into the kitchen.
This past Tuesday was the first time people recommended by our insurance company came out to assess the damage and determine what needed to be fixed. It'll take a bit of time since there's a lot to do. The upstairs deck was torn apart. All the carpet will have to be replaced. Wood beams in the kitchen downstairs will have to be removed and replaced, as will part of the ceiling above the sink. And on and on.
What I'm wondering is where do you write? If you could not write there, what would be your second choice of a writing spot? Do you write with the TV in the background? I can be easily distracted by the TV in the living room or the phone ringing. If there are people here watching TV, I shut the door to my office.
Do you need silence? Or do you have music or the TV playing in the background?
I'm a "silence" writer. If it's quiet, I can hear characters talking in my head.
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| The late Helen Ginger (1952-2021) was an author, blogger, and the Coordinator of Story Circle Network's Editorial Services and writing coach. She was also a former mermaid. She taught public speaking as well as writing and marketing workshops. Helen was the author of Angel Sometimes, Dismembering the Past, and three books in TSTC Publishing’s TechCareers series. |
I need quiet, no one bothering me, no radio or television, and a recliner with my laptop on my lap. The cats, however, do not respect "the space" and like to "help." But I wouldn't want it any other way. If my space got taken away, I'd probably take a break until I got it fixed. Bad luck on the storm damage, but have fun redecorating.
ReplyDeleteI have to have quiet, too. I've tried typing with my laptop in my lap, but I make too many mistakes doing it that way.
DeleteYikes! I'm not a lover of violent storms, especially those with lots of wind. A gentle storm is nice, but I don't see many of those nowadays. Here's hoping your writing life gets back to normal soon.
ReplyDeleteWhere do I write? In a corner of my bedroom. Because my home doubles as a work area for electronic equipment and a studio, I don't have an option to move my computer anywhere else. Let's hope my roof stays intact!
At the moment, I'm working in a corner of a room, too. I really don't need much more space than that. I already can't see the top of the fold-out table since all space is covered with paper.
DeleteYikes, if you are like me, you hate for the "norm" to be disrupted. Hope everything gets fixed in your upstairs space soon and you have a great place in which to work.
ReplyDeleteI have an office that only seconds as a guest room when there is a lot of company and somebody needs floor space to accommodate an air mattress. Otherwise, it is just my writing space. I do not listen to music or television, and sometimes even the whine of the ceiling fan irritates me. :-)
Maryann, you and I appear to be twins when it comes to working. I, too, need quiet to write.
DeleteForgot to address background noise. No! I love music, but it is distracting when I write, especially if I know the words. When I watch TV, I watch TV. When I write, I write. Never the twain shall meet.
ReplyDeleteA laptop is a last resort. I use an ergonomic keyboard with my pc, so the standard one on the laptop creates a multitude of typos. Grrr.
Right now, I'm sitting on my front deck overlooking a lake--we're way up high off the road. The only sounds are mowing in other yards and birds tweeting, with an occasional car passing. Otherwise I have an office that's all mine. Sometimes I write on my bed. I love quiet, but that's not always possible.
ReplyDeleteThat upstairs does not look very good, a bit drafty for my taste. Talk about moving around we live five or six hours from Yellowstone and it seems that this summer that was the destination vacation of choice. Everyone bunked here on the way, I got nothing done, nothing at all.
ReplyDelete