When I find time to write, I am usually so grateful to feel inspired that I hardly notice my surroundings. I could be on a train, in bed, at a café or a restaurant, or even in my car (I’ve been known to use the voice recording feature on my cell phone, though I have returned both mp3 recorders I purchased because I so seldom found a use for them). When inspiration strikes at an inopportune time, I resort to whatever materials are available, which includes notebooks, napkins, or even ink on skin. But these are all exceptions. For the most part, I require some basics before I can work seriously. For me, a perfect setting for writing is about creating a mood that is conducive to inspiration and free of basic distractions. Because much of what I write is “dark,” the mood is often easier set at night or when it’s dreary out. This isn’t to say I haven’t picked up my laptop on a sunny summer day, seated myself in an open air café, and written passages on cannibalism and suspension art. It happens.
Lighting in general plays a large role in how productive I am. I am not a fan of overhead lighting. I like antique lamps and yellow colored lights, dark rooms where there are too many shadows to count. It gives my brain something to do when it’s not focused on the story. This goes for my writing space at home, as well as finding those little places away from the house. These past few days, people have been posting pictures of a “writing nook,” though I know too few people that would actually fit inside it comfortably. I like a little elbow room, and I’m not a very big girl. Also, not sure if there are any lamps in there. It makes me want some candle niches, like the ones in the stone walls at the villa I stayed in in Malta. Let’s be real though. Could I write in it? Not likely. Poor lighting is part of it. These days, you can find me at First Slice in Andersonville. One, because the coffee is good and cheap, and two, because there is pie. While the big windows are a challenge to my dim netbook screen, I have found a few usually vacant spots that I can work in without too much eyestrain.
I know a lot of people talk about putting on music to help themselves write. However, I am one of those odd weirdos that requires damn-well-close to silence in order to get going on a project. Some ambient people noise in a public space is doable, and I make soundtracks to fuel my thoughts when I am away from the keyboard. Having people I know surrounding me and lapsing into intermittent conversation can be distracting, since I ordinarily want to chime in. This is why we use the age-old writing sprint technique when we want to get something done at Writer’s Group. If you’re not familiar, this technique lets you pick a set time, usually anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour, and writing without talking. Then when the time is up, you’re free to share and gab and whatever else for as long as you need until another sprint is called.
It’s apparent I have gone through some development in terms of finding the ideal writing space. One of my major transitions was to change from composing primarily by hand to writing directly on a computer. The challenge to me was to conquer the feelings of permanency that came from putting my work right on a computer. Counter-intuitive, yes? Yet, I still get asked this question by burgeoning new writers. My advice is simple: unless you are 16 and writing in a secret diary, or away from all computers and software programs known to man, avoid the pen and paper, son. Unless it works for you. In which case, embrace your renaissance ways, compose your prose in notebooks of Moleskein, then by God put it on the computer before you lose it, or burn it in a fit of hatred.
Looking back, there are only two cardinal rules here: do what makes you work best and back that shit up. ‘Nough said.
No comments:
Post a Comment