A friend of mine says he hasn’t written hardly anything since the pandemic hit. He’s always written in coffee shops. Now that he’s stuck at home, the words don’t flow. He says it’s too quiet at home. Or maybe it’s simply that home is not his writing home.
My writing home is my office. Which I didn’t have for much of my career. For fifteen years, I wrote in a corner of our family room, with our children and their friends watching TV ten feet away. It worked for everybody. I was right there if they needed me. And, somehow, I was able to block things out and focus on the world I was creating. I wrote ten books in that environment. I thought I could write anywhere. I also wrote longhand on my break at work and in hotel rooms on a clunky laptop.
But that was years ago. Now I’m spoiled. I have a beautiful office on our second floor. It has everything I need: a great view of our yard and garden, my cats, my desktop computer, research materials, books and inspiring pictures. Still, I figured I could go back to the basics if I needed to. With a deadline looming, I took my laptop on a two-week vacation. If I stuck to writing in the morning (my creative time, even though I’m non-functional for everything else), surely I could bang out a couple of pages every day and get that much closer to meeting my deadline.
But the words flowed intermittently. I wasn’t completely unproductive, but that’s not saying much. I tried to figure out why. Was it the new environment? Writing on a laptop? (I do hate the keyboards on laptops.)
My friend says he has trouble writing at home because he misses the background noise of a coffee shop, the muffled voices and sounds of coffee brewing. I still haven’t figured out what environmental cues I missed on our vacation. It frustrates me. I wonder in what other ways I’ve grown old and rigid. Because that’s what it feels like. As if I have to have things a certain way to be creative.
I have another friend who writes on a laptop in various places in their house, on their patio and in their motorhome when they travel. As long as she is able to get into a comfortable position (she has health issues that cause chronic pain), she can write. I envy her flexibility. I want to be able to enter the writing trance in different environments, the way I used to do. I want my writing home to be in my head and not a specific place.
The pandemic has up-ended a lot of people’s lives, including forcing some writers to have to function in new environments. I wonder how much that has affected their creativity, for good or bad. Maybe if I had no choice but to adapt to writing in new circumstances, I eventually would. Because the alternative is giving up the thrill and satisfaction of entering the writing trance. I’m not yet ready to do without that in my life.
How about you? Do you have to be in a certain place for the words to flow? What “writing cues” do you need to get in the proper frame of mind to write?
I usually sit in a chair in my living room, with a laptop in my lap. I found a great lap table that is adjustable and fits me really well. However, I find that I’m struggling to make myself write. I’ve been reading a ton of books, because I’m finally going to donate most of them and I wanted one last read before they go. My husband is home more, so we watch TV together and have been doing a big remodel. But I so want to get back to a writing schedule. I know we’re all struggling with where, when, how, AND WHY we write, when there is so much other noise out there to distract us. Thanks for sharing with us.
I have heard this from so many writers. Even if your writing “home” is not disrupted, so much else is weird and off-kilter these days that it seems to affect the creative process for a lot of people. Hope you can get back into writing and enjoying it again.
The double negative in your first sentence implies that your friend has written a lot during the pandemic. Other than that, I really enjoyed the article. I penned my first novel in a spiral notebook on breaks at an insulation factory, early in the morning, wherever I could find quiet. I used to write morning pages in coffee shops and never had any problems filling 3 pages. Now the nearest place is 6 miles away, and the virus is spreading exponentially here, so I’s sticking close to home.
You got me. I wrote this at the last minute and didn’t spend enough time polishing it. Hope you can get back to writing in coffee shops soon. But realistically it’s probably nine months to a year away. Thanks for reading my post.
for the X-coffee shop writer.Try having the coffee pot in your writing space, you mentioned smelling coffee so maybe that is your trigger. Good Luck.
Faking the coffee shop smell is probably a good idea. And maybe he could find a recording of coffeeshop noise for further ambiance. I’ll suggest it. Thanks for reading my post.
I write at the kitchen counter (after mi esposo has gone to bed), or I have a board that lies across the arms of my rocking chair, so I plant myself there and hack it out. I do have back/ sitting issues, so I have to be aware of my posture, and need to stretch out my wrists every night so they don’t get unbearably tight.
I work from home, and now have a standing desk, which has its own pros and cons – good changeup to stand for a while, but anyone who stands at work all day (think supermarket cashiers, or my brother the machinist whose leg veins are trashed) can tell you it’s bad for your circulation, your feet, your legs, and, yes, your back. I try to keep moving. Writing tends to catch me at odd times, often when I’m obligated to do something else, but when I’m absorbed it is really the most wonderful part of life.
A rocking chair, wow! I am so impressed with people who can write on laptops in beds, at counters and in rocking chairs. I need the stability of a desk and a desktop computer and my comfy office chair. I am amazed by so many authors adaptability. But I agree, when it’s flowing and you’re absorbed, it is the best, wherever it happens. Cheers!
Restaurants long hand over lunch… so yeah, the pandemic has messed that up. At home i’m aware of the dishes and the there is no white noise energy demanding nothing of me.
So interesting that some of you write best away from home. I guess I am better at blocking out all the things that need doing in my house! I hope that the promise of a good vaccine means that in six months or so you can go back to the routine that works for you. Take care.
I’ve found it very hard to focus, between the pandemic, the politics, and various medical issues (nothing dire.) I have an office, and have had for years, so there’s no excuse there. I am trying a routine of 10 minutes or so of tidying before I start writing, and I think it’s helping. (The room can generally use it anyway.)
I can write in odd places sometimes; my husband was in the hospital for nearly a month one winter, and his room had a small table and lamp in one corner. I didn’t think I’d be able to concentrate at all, but tried it in hopes of making him feel less guilty about taking up my time. It worked beautifully!
As a former librarian, I can’t write in libraries. All those little background noises mean something to me, and I find myself keeping half-alert for questions or problems.
Jane –
Back in my college student days I got my most effective studying done in the very noisy student union grill – the background din drowned out individual sounds, so it was like white noise. By contrast, the library was so quiet that I was constantly distracted by small noises – someone’s squeaky shoes, or a reader sniffing in a nearby carrel. I didn’t last at the library!!
Well, I work in a library currently and I think what you mention might work the same way for me. I don’t think I could write in a library because, like you, it represents a different kind of work environment for me. It’s really fun to read about our individual writing experiences. It seems like most of us have an environment that works the best for us and our own issues of what is distracting.