Where do you write? How do you find the time?

pog it

EileenG wrote: »

Never try working in a newsroom then. It's either get used to working in noise, or don't write. You really need silence?

It's not the silence thing, with McDonalds the problem is the atmosphere! It's just a sterilised place, I only go there the odd time to binge eat on a meal. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great you can write anywhere, but it's not going to be everyone's style.

I've never worked in a newsroom but that is a different type of writing.

EileenG

Personally, I love McDonalds, and eavesdrop like mad. Today I listened in to three guys planning to commit a crime to get put back into prison, one of them needed to go to rehab, one wanted to study, and one wanted to get away from his mother-in-law who had moved into his house.

Bob Z

EileenG wrote: »

Personally, I love McDonalds, and eavesdrop like mad. Today I listened in to three guys planning to commit a crime to get put back into prison, one of them needed to go to rehab, one wanted to study, and one wanted to get away from his mother-in-law who had moved into his house.

2 of those guys are crazy bastards

pog it

EileenG wrote: »

Personally, I love McDonalds, and eavesdrop like mad. Today I listened in to three guys planning to commit a crime to get put back into prison, one of them needed to go to rehab, one wanted to study, and one wanted to get away from his mother-in-law who had moved into his house.

Yep as bad as I feel when I do it, eavesdropping can at least be done almost anywhere I just can't write everywhere. That's more what my post was about. Like I said McDonalds is just not a place for writing for me.

EileenG

Bob Z wrote: »

2 of those guys are crazy bastards

From what they said, all of them had crap lives.

ahayzer42

I don't really tend to have any specific places where I can or can't write. I usually do most of my writing in my study at home and have plenty of time because I'm an Arts Graduate in a decidedly non-artsy economic climate. (ie - unemployed)

Sometimes I can write with music on, more times I can't. Used to try writing in the library in college but was always self conscious (or paranoid) about people looking over my shoulder and seeing what I was doing so I stopped that.

Not too long ago, my house suffered an electricity cut for two days and I found that I wrote loads on paper over those two days so I guess it's just sporadic for me at the moment - haven't got any set routine.

cobsie

In most circumstances, I write online. I use Google Docs, so that I can write on any computer, anywhere, that is connected to the internet. That way, I don't have to have my laptop with me, I can take advantage of lulls in work, or downtime at a friend's house, and of course can write at home in the evening, or in a cafe etc...

I like Google Docs because I have access to all my edits, drafts and snippets all the time and I'm always working on the most current version of a story.

I could never by write hand any more! I type a million times faster and tend to edit my writing contemporaneously, which is the way I like to write.

It wouldn't work for everyone, but I find it a great tool.

The Mad Hatter

I've found that habit doesn't work for me. What I need is somewhere new, or at least somewhere I haven't written in for a while. This varies from my kitchen between eleven at night to three in the morning to a cafe from nine am to the train (three hours of dead time) to the beach. What seems to be important is that I haven't written anywhere like that recently. I don't know why. Generally I prefer it if there's no music, but other noises I can ignore quite easily.

As for computer vs notebook, I like both, again, at different times. I'll write on whatever feels most comfortable at the time. I haven't found any great variance in quality writing on one or the other.

cobsie

it's all about 'found time' really, isn't it? I think many of us, parents especially, learn to focus on the time we have, regardless of the setting, because we are ACUTELY aware that there ain't any other time gonna present itself! This is it - write now, amid the ironing, the scattered jigsaws and plastic Iggle-Piggles, or forget about being a writer.

(can I get an a-men?!)

And as if by magic, the Internet serves up a case study to illustrate my point: Alice Munro - recent winner of the International Booker, and Canada's front runner for a Nobel, whose first collection was heralded by "Housewife Finds Time to Write"

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/12/bringing-life-to-life/3056/

"As a young author taking care of three small children, Munro learned to write in the slivers of time she had, churning out stories during children's nap times, in between feedings, as dinners baked in the oven."

Hope for us all, Boardees!

pickarooney

cobsie wrote: »

it's all about 'found time' really, isn't it? I think many of us, parents especially, learn to focus on the time we have, regardless of the setting, because we are ACUTELY aware that there ain't any other time gonna present itself! This is it - write now, amid the ironing, the scattered jigsaws and plastic Iggle-Piggles, or forget about being a writer.

(can I get an a-men?!)

halle-feckin-lujah!

The worst thing about this is that as soon as you do get a quiet moment you realise there are 50 things you want to do which will take that little bit less effort than writing. I usually find I write in three steps - the idea that comes when in the shower, on the bike or otherwise unable to get to a computer/notebook, then the hastily scribbled transcription of same, followed by the careful typing up, the 'what the hell does that say/was I thinking?' and the in-line editing.

The Mad Hatter

cobsie wrote: »

it's all about 'found time' really, isn't it? I think many of us, parents especially, learn to focus on the time we have, regardless of the setting, because we are ACUTELY aware that there ain't any other time gonna present itself! This is it - write now, amid the ironing, the scattered jigsaws and plastic Iggle-Piggles, or forget about being a writer.

(can I get an a-men?!)

And as if by magic, the Internet serves up a case study to illustrate my point: Alice Munro - recent winner of the International Booker, and Canada's front runner for a Nobel, whose first collection was heralded by "Housewife Finds Time to Write"

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/12/bringing-life-to-life/3056/

"As a young author taking care of three small children, Munro learned to write in the slivers of time she had, churning out stories during children's nap times, in between feedings, as dinners baked in the oven."

Hope for us all, Boardees!

Well I know that after Toni Morrison had kids, she started waking up in the wee hours of the morning to write while they were still asleep.

EileenG

I do know I've mastered the fine art of typing while breastfeeding. If you are ever in that situation, buy a sling, they are a life saver.

pickarooney

EileenG wrote: »

I do know I've mastered the fine art of typing while breastfeeding. If you are ever in that situation, buy a sling, they are a life saver.

I've not quite mastered typing while spoon-feeding and am on my fourth keyboard in 12 months

EileenG

pickarooney wrote: »

I've not quite mastered typing while spoon-feeding and am on my fourth keyboard in 12 months

Well, no, you need a hand to operate a spoon, but not to operate breasts.