Sunday, December 04, 2011

Back on the Blog Chain: There's a Place--Or Is There?

Welcome to the last blog chain of the year. Today, Tere asks us:

What conditions do you need to get your best writing done? Closed door, crowded coffee house? Computer or notebook? Can you just sit down to write, or do you need to wait for the time to be right?

Amparo comes before me, and Matt is next.

As a working mom, I can't wait for the perfect conditions; otherwise, I'd never have a chance to write. I have to be flexible. For example, here are some places where I've written recently:

1. At work (on my lunch hour), on my laptop
2. At home, after Alex falls asleep (usually later than he should), with my laptop on my desk and Pandora playing over the headphones
3. At the bookstore, on my laptop
4. In the hall of the park district building where Alex takes dance class, on my laptop
5. At a relative's house, watching Alex play with trains while I write on a printout of my story

As you can see, I find having a laptop vital for most of my writing, but I can write on paper in a pinch. I can generally tune out my environment, but TV is too distracting for me.

What about you? Do you have a favorite place to work, or do you work in multiple locations?

6 comments:

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I just type away on my home computer. It's not a laptop.

Matthew MacNish said...

My life is very similar. You have to make time where and whenever you can.

Michelle H. said...

Yes, flexibility definitely counts.

Tere Kirkland said...

Wow, sounds like you really take advantage of your "free" time. Way to go, Sandra!

Home alone on my laptop is usually best for me, but sometimes I like to take my notebook to Jackson Square on my lunchbreak if the weather is nice.

Usually I can manage to tune out everything but the loud phone talkers. I'm always imagining what the person on the other end is saying. Too distracting. ;)

Johanna Garth said...

New follower from the blog chain. I love to write at home or in coffee shops. The one place I don't think I could do it is at relative's house. Kudos to you for being able to concentrate!

Kate Karyus Quinn said...

Wow, it sounds like you make every free moment count. I really need to be better about doing that.

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