Writers Do it in Their..
Question - Where do you write?
We struggling writers always seem to have a major battle on our hands. We not
only have a blank page to contend with but also the need to find somewhere to
fill it.
Parents have squabbling kids to cope with, lovable at all times of course.
Husbands have wives and wives have husbands. As much as you love your spouse,
do they really understand your need to write? (and having written, the need for
fair criticism).
Most writers these days have telephones and television to stop them from
working, and many of these, their own built in distractions on their
computer screens. Fighting aliens from space, or winning world war III often
seems
more appealing than that blank screen. The problem is, it also appears more
appealing to those same lovable kids who are avidly awaiting their turn.
So where do we write? Where do we find that peaceful, interruption free haven?
Some, it appears merely lounge back on their settees or sofas and dictate to
their secretaries, though usually one imagines the more affluent writers at the
desk of a massive study and surrounded by books. At least one, has converted
his garage into a his own little empire, but what of his car sitting in the
drive? Does that then become another distraction, with the need to polish off
the rain marks or watch out for the friendly, neighbourhood car thief.
Some choose the local library, no lovable but squabbling kids, no spouses,
telephones, televisions or the hundred and one jobs that go with normal home
life. Just the bustle and clatter of other people also searching for a little
peace and quiet to do their own thing.
I have heard of some writers setting up residence (literary only) in the
greenhouse, the garden shed or even the kitchen at three o'clock in the
morning, if there is such an hour. And that poses another question - When do
you write?
Should we all become slaves of our pen (or computer) as discipline directs us?
Many see it that way and need to write at certain times on certain days or even
every day (if only to update that personal file, the diary).
Some insist they wake at unimaginable times of the night filled with sudden
inspiration and the need to fill that blank page. I suppose if I am honest I
might say that it has happened to me on one or two occasions but usually, when
I've zonked, I'm out for the count and the only creativity I do is thinking up
dreams. A subject for a plot perhaps?
Housewives or husbands may wait for their relative spouse to go to work before
bringing out pads and pens from pinny or dressing gown pockets. Those that
drive to their place of work (not many can make writing pay) may dictate into
dictation machines as they thread their way through gridlocked streets. Others
in planes, trains or buses may (as many song writers would have us believe) use
fag packets or old envelopes but I would presume writing pads or 'note book'
computers (providing fighting aliens from space or winning world war III
doesn't take priority) would be more popular.
And at work, does writing take precedence at lunch time and the need to fill
the blank page become more important than filling the inner man, or woman?
Contributed by Mick Mundy
