Normally when I take a day off from work to write, I spend the day at home. Last Friday, however, I took the opposite approach and hung out elsewhere. I had to run a couple of errands first, so I didn't get to start as early as I planned. (It didn't help that I had to drive to the other side of town on a wild goose chase, though I picked up something I needed on the way back.) Still, by 10:00 or so I was at my first planned stop of the day: a coffee shop.
I'm currently juggling four different stories, and my goal for Friday was to get past the 10,000 word count for two of them, Fifth Season and "The Unnumbered World." I not only broke that word count for Fifth Season at the coffee shop but went nearly another thousand words past that. I had lunch, did a little window-shopping, and headed to my next destination--the library. It wasn't that close to the coffee shop, but I had a couple of books to return, I wanted to admire the scenery, and it was closer to my son's daycare.
The afternoon session was more difficult than the morning one. Part of the problem was a lack of working power outlets--I had to switch seats three times before I could charge my netbook, which was running low by that point. Although I had some ideas thought out for "The Unnumbered World", the story wound up heading in a different direction and didn't come easily to me. Eventually I did make my goal for that story and switched to the "Young Seasons" short story collection. I was able to make some progress on an untitled short story that I'd been stuck on for a while.
Altogether, my writing total for the day was about 3,600 hundred words, with an additional hundred words or so added before bedtime. Some weekdays I can't even make it to a thousand words, so I was pleased with my productivity. I'll have to try going out again the next time I take a writing day, but hopefully I won't have to move around so much.
Do you prefer writing at home or finding another place to write? What do you look for in a writing spot?
6 comments:
That is an impressive word count. I think I hit two thousand once. Took me about six hours. (I'm a slow typist.)
I prefer working in my office at home. Then I have my music and television.
Thanks, Alex! I'm normally a slow writer too.
I usually find it easier to work outside because there are less distractions. It's a lot easier since I got my netbook six years ago. It can go 9-10 hours and not run out of power.
I prefer writing at home. I have a very comfortable little spot by the window with all my note books and pencils and all the free coffee I can drink. It does need the occasional cleaning, though, before it is functional.
I'm too easily distracted. Squirrel!
I prefer to work at home in the quiet.
I do most of my drafting at a local coffeehouse. While I can write articles or do my blog marketing from my home office, I find that the constant distractions of phone and family hamper me when it comes to creative writing. I uses an alphasmart Neo at the coffeehouse. It has 700 hours of battery life, so I pop in batteries once a year and I'm good to go. It helps that I don't need to find an outlet while writing on the go.
You had a great word count that day! Keep up the good work. :)
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