Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> getting started --> A Place to Write
Articles Index: Site Index: Virginia Woolfe said that all
women need a place of their own to write. Jane Austen
might have disagreed, since she wrote all of her
wonderful novels on a small table in the drawing room,
with her family carrying on activities all around her.
Your place to write should fit
your needs as a writer. Think about what you need. Quiet?
A door to shut? A cork board to pin up pictures and
notes? A filing cabinet? A window? Nice, neat little desk
accessories? Many homemakers have made do with the
kitchen table, but other writers prefer a desk that
doesn't have to be cleared at meal time. A few writers
have even taken over a corner of the furnace room, that
being the only private spot in the house that no one else
had laid claim to already. Don't spend too much time
arranging the "perfect" space, either, if you use its
lack of perfection as an excuse not to write ("I can't
write today -- I have to find colored binder clips.").
Rather, think of your space as a work in progress just as
you do your writing. "Edit" your space as an ongoing
project. Who has access to your writing
space? Do your kids feel that your things are theirs,
too, and constantly make off with your pencils, staplers,
and tape? Can your domestic partner look over your
shoulder and critique? Are these things okay with you, or
do you need stronger limits to your space? If your
writing time involves statements such as, "Okay, NOW
where is the stapler?" it may be time to set aside a box
or cabinet of writing supplies for your use only.
No place in your house that
works? How about turning a briefcase into a writing case
and taking it to the library? At least you'll have
unlimited research material at your fingertips! You'll
also find quiet spaces where you can write undisturbed
for long stretches at a time -- that is, if you don't
find the shelves of books too distracting! Don't feel that you must have one
place and one place only in which to write. One very
unpublished poet we knew insisted he could only write
when he was seated under a certain tree, had a certain
kind of pen, was writing on a certain kind of paper, and
the weather was just so. This kind of preciousness is
fine if you're already rich and famous and want to be
eccentric. It's not very practical for the career
author. Being able to write anywhere at
any time is a useful skill. Get in the habit of carrying
a notepad or index cards around for scribbling ideas,
paragraphs that pop into your head, references, or
anything else. If you have a laptop computer, get an
adaptor that will let you plug it into a car's cigarette
lighter, and take it with you when you're carpooling or
on long trips (not when you're the driver, of course!).
The more adept you are at writing anywhere at any time,
the more productive you can be. Subway and train commuters can
use their riding time to write by hand or on laptops.
Natalie Goldman in Writing
Down the Bones recommends
writing in restaurants and cafes, provided that you
actually buy something to eat or drink, and many writers
enjoy the pleasures of cafe writing. If you're creative
about where you write, you can often solve the problem of
finding the time to write. Recommended books: Natalie Goldberg's Zen approach to
writing helps beginning writers free their creative
spririt. Writing
Down the Bones Writing
Down the Bones -- unabridged
audio If you want to be a writer, Dorthea
Brande gives sound advice on writing and career
building. Becoming
a Writer
Natalie Goldberg
Shambhala, Expanded edition, 2006
Dorthea Brande
Jeremy P. Tarcher, Publisher, 1981
Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> getting started --> A Place to Write