Whenever Wherever

 

 

As writer’s, we have our unique quirks on what works for us and what is not good for our creative energy.

Time:

The alarm screams,  reluctant eyes peer at the bedside clock, it’s an icy Sydney winter morning – characters whisper, ‘let me out, I need some fun, you left me in a dark and terrible place, remember?’ You heed the call, it’s your passion, your people, your joy, your story, your everything!

When we write is as important as how we write. I am a crack of dawn writer, rising at 4 am and writing from around 5-6 am up to 8 am and if a generous muse should pop by later, I resume writing in the afternoon. The morning is the pattern, the afternoon depends on work, the muse and other commitments. Then there are writers, like F. Scott Fitzgerald who picked up the pen at midnight and worked through into the wee hours of the morning. Individual biorhythms determine optimum brain functionality.

Consistency is key, to allow the energy to find you, to invest the time if you have a passion for writing. With a busy teaching schedule, long gaps prevented timely completion of a project started. Lots of stories sat abandoned on hard drives and usbs.  Being able to pull back allows time for creative headspace and naturally hails the muse for assistance.

And there are writers who snatch a bit of time during a daily commute to work, or during a lunch break. The time is dedicated to achieving what the soul desires.

 

 

Place:

A sense of where we write is as important as, the bed we sleep in. Some like solitude away from the presence of others, that is my quirk, I need to be at my desk for deep writing.  Stephen King in On Writing says, ‘most of us do our best in a place of our own.’ Although ideas can emerge at any time, and in any place – carparks, doctor’s waiting room, at these times a handy notebook/journal stashed in a handbag with a pencil at the ready is a godsend.

Some can do intense writing in a crowded café with headphones in place – listening to white noise for a few hours of solid writing. Such public places would gladly have the writer in their space ordering endless cups of coffee and perhaps a slice or two of banana bread, or a friand or other sugary delight.

If writing in a home with lots of distractions – children needing attention, wanting to play, or visitors popping in, then a neat garden shed with all the creature comforts a writer would need is an option. A Writer’s Wendy Workhouse, (although writing hardly feels like work) a place to call your own, for needed headspace and entry allowed to ONE visitor, the divine muse!

 

Some may write with the television on in a room filled with activity because they have the wonderful ability to switch off and become an un-listening shape in the room. On a personal note, this is not conducive for creative energy in my world.  I can read and mark a paper in a crowded room, just not go deep into the writing process. I wrote a short story titled, Romantic Recreation where the aspiring writer had her writing desk in the garden shed because she needed to be close to nature, to hear the rain and perhaps feel it, in a space that had a corrugated roof inviting amplified sounds – birds strutting on the roof, a cat scuttling across, big drops of rain pelting down, or the deafening hammer of hailstones.

 

Equally the twitter of birds, flickering shafts of sunlight, the smell of earth and flora after a storm enlivens the senses if one is tucked away in a garden shed at the furthermost end of the backyard. Some writers rent a space to have privacy/seclusion to do their deep writing. Stephen King says the writing place should be humble, something I’ve followed through on his advice is to have a room with a door you can shut to make, ‘a serious commitment to write… to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.’ There are different views on whether the room should have a view or not – I like a window although some prefer facing a wall to minimise distractions. Jane Austen preferred writing at a window in the dining room.

Whatever the choice, tell the story, only you can tell, whenever and wherever.

 

A private writing space is a heavenly home away from home ~ MN

 

 

What’s your dream writing or reading space?

 

Happy writing, happy reading!