Where do you do your writing? It’s a question I get asked often. I have a small office at my house that overlooks a deck and some leafy summertime trees. When it’s winter, the window becomes glazed with frost in spectacular patterns. I sit with my back to the view and with a bookshelf to the right of me. It’s filled with books I mean to read and photographs of my family. Opposite I have a painting that is dear to me; the desk if filled with CDs, pens and notes. I think anyone wandering in (not that anyone’s allowed to wander in!) would find it a cosy place to write. But I’m lucky to be able to write off a home office as a business expense. Before I could do that, I always tried to make a little spot that was purely for writing – a small desk in the corner of my bedroom when I was a student or a comfy chair in the living room where I could cuddle up with a laptop (not such a good idea if you value your back.) It’s worth a little thinking time. A place that is dedicated to your writing is essential. It shows you (and those around you) that writing is important.
Posts tagged ‘process’
July 30, 2010
One hour
Today give yourself exactly one hour to write. Start the clock and don’t get up from your desk until the hour is up. No cheating by slipping onto Twitter or Facebook… this hour is for writing (or staring at a blank screen) only.
July 26, 2010
Writing Days
Sometimes you get to a point in the story you’re working on and you can’t figure out where it’s going. The computer screen stays white and empty – all that blank page waiting to be filled (or setneces getting all tangled up on the page), your head full of ideas but the words not coming. The best advice for this, I think, is to stop and go and do something else. Martin Amis talked about this at the Dubai literature festival. He said when he was a younger writer he’d tackle problems at his computer for hours. Now when he gets to a tricky part, he stops and goes to do something else for a bit. He walks or changes rooms or SOMETHING. (I nap!) When he gets back his unconscious writing mind seems to have solved the problem.
