tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423907132654588993.post2385130045414883716..comments2024-03-18T06:27:34.815-04:00Comments on The Alchemy of Writing: Writing SpacesBryan Russellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09555071335245492790noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423907132654588993.post-75199782340112067772008-12-13T19:08:00.000-05:002008-12-13T19:08:00.000-05:00I have two spaces, depending on what I'm doing. Ed...I have two spaces, depending on what I'm doing. Editing, blogging, critting and general twittering is all done on the laptop on the dining room table, a short hop from the kitchen hatch where it (the laptop) normally lives. This is a clean, clean space with no clutter or distractions, and can be totally silent unless I choose to play music in it. No view, no clutter, no distractions. Perfect.<BR/><BR/>But I can't write on it.<BR/><BR/>For writing, I need my big desk and all my stuff around me, so I have a desk in our office/attic with a decrepit pc that has (importantly, I think) NO INTERNET CONNECTION. It's the one place where chaos is allowed to exist in my house. Every other place is tidy (obsessively so), but here, there is no system and no rules. There is stuff piled everywhere, all related to whichever of the projects I'm working on. It's perfect, and it's the *only* place I can write.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423907132654588993.post-39728622644947366172008-12-12T15:51:00.000-05:002008-12-12T15:51:00.000-05:00I think a writing space is a bit like a writing ti...I think a writing space is a bit like a writing time, in that it can help get you into the zone, into the right frame of mind to see stories. I think it's a familiarity that breeds unconscious mental cues: this is the time and place to write. It's sort of like an automatic "writing" charge for the brain, a bit of added juice for the task at hand.<BR/><BR/>Which makes me interested in Ms. Kitty's reply. Do people who move around a lot prefer it that way? What does the moving around add to the process? Or is one place preferred, but others are used sometimes for practical or creative reasons? <BR/><BR/>I think part of the reason I like the idea of a "pure" writing space is that the triggers will only be for writing, rather than surfing, work, etc. In there the brain would automatically be tuned to writing, to telling stories. Ideally, there'd be another computer and room for extraneous stuff. Checking NBA scores, looking up photography or music, etc. And then a writing place for just writing (or writing related things).Bryan Russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09555071335245492790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423907132654588993.post-17925137332353741802008-12-12T10:49:00.000-05:002008-12-12T10:49:00.000-05:00There are only two places that I write, one is at ...There are only two places that I write, one is at work. Like Ink, I work in a shop which can get pretty quiet (unlike Ink, I'm a grunt, rather than the proprietor!), and there is a PC, I'm often logged into FM while at work, but the office and counter are a little removed, I can only access the PC in very short bursts. When I write at work, its by hand, using a clipboard, some paper from the photocopier and a biro. <BR/><BR/>At home, though... the guy who previously occupied this house did something a little strange with the garage: he converted two thirds of it into a little downstairs room (leaving an unusually small space on the other side, complete with garage door, to store the lawnmower and select bits and bobs to do with the garden). He didn't do a proper job, really, and there isn't a radiator in what is now 'my office', and I share the space with the electricity meter and the boiler, and some exposed brickwork, the vacuum, the 'outdoors' garden furniture (during colder/wetter times of the year, like now), spare duvets, and a labcoat (not sure why that's in here)and the general messy malaise caused by me being in a confined space for long hours. But there are also bookshelves, complete with books, the PC, a little fan heater, a window (woo-hoo!), and my writing head. <BR/><BR/>Like with music, I don't really notice the environs when I'm in writing away. I think my office is very suitable and I'd never thought to question whether it's a good writing space or not, so I guess it is. <BR/><BR/>In terms of the ideal, though, I have absolutely no doubt about this: I'd be with a laptop, at a posh patio set, looking out across a sunny vista complete with ocean and beach. <BR/><BR/>I'd probably never get anything done, and being in such a situation could only mean that I'd already won the lottery or sold a million books, so my motivation would be absolutely zero. <BR/><BR/>Still, I could add in a hammock and some tasty treats to that scene and I'm sure the urge to write would make itself known sooner or later. Perhaps!Wanuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05731486848251527379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423907132654588993.post-77232282353487881722008-12-11T20:54:00.000-05:002008-12-11T20:54:00.000-05:00Hi guys,My house is my space. I switch rooms depen...Hi guys,<BR/><BR/>My house is my space. I switch rooms depending on the time of day. My favorite place is in the den. You enter from the dining room, via french doors. It has kind of a western theme. There is the fireplace, the rough walls are off-white, the bookcases are white. I have two large windows that look onto the back yard and the barn. The floors are bamboo covered with a big white, red and green wool Indian rug. The walls have a strip of buffalo boarder around the walls. <BR/><BR/>There are pictures of my horses on the walls. A photo of myself holding newborn filly Tanamara for her first steps.<BR/><BR/>Not a very girlie room. The couch is big enough for all three dogs and I to curl up while the fire burns in the fireplace. I plug my split keyboard into the laptop, set it on the slate coffee table with the print really large.<BR/><BR/>There is no tv in this room. I listen to my mp3s via the player, or pandora.com via laptop. <BR/><BR/>Some day I want a desk. But for now it is plenty cozy on raw winter nights or sunny winter days.<BR/><BR/>That's my space.<BR/><BR/>KittyK. A. Jordanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07020119815910396933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423907132654588993.post-83336394808406656072008-12-11T20:21:00.000-05:002008-12-11T20:21:00.000-05:00Ink!Writing spaces are important to me, too. I hav...Ink!<BR/>Writing spaces are important to me, too. I have what I call my wrtiting niche. In the back of the house, in the back of the master bedroom, I've taken two bookshelves and put them together in the form of an 'L' in a corner in such a way that I can barely fit into it. I have a laptop on one of the lower shelves that lines up about desk height. Around me are my books, my hoary collection of 20's era pulp fiction. Burroughs, Howard, Saberhagen, Zelazny, Herbert, etc. A few odds and ends thrown in. Assimov's Foundation. The Lost World. Adventures of Robin Hood. And of course, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.<BR/><BR/>I have an old office chair wedged up in there so that I have barely enough room to squeeze in and get into writing position. My skull candy (head phones) hangs close by for plugging into Media Player. All I can see is my computer and the books I grew up reading. It's pretty insulated and suits me well for now.<BR/><BR/>My perfect writing place, if I had a much bigger house, would be part writing niche, part studio. Three walls would contain bookshelves. On the fourth my many guitars would hang, so that I could easily move from playing to writing. Also, I'd have one of those big drawing boards close by. Some of my 'characters' can be unusual and drawing helps me get a better visual.<BR/><BR/>I guess I'm more inwardly focused and so panoramic vistas, such as mountain overhangs and such would probably distract me more than inspire.<BR/><BR/>So that's it. Pretty standard stuff. Anybody else?Bookworm1605https://www.blogger.com/profile/12545092958160012589noreply@blogger.com