Where Does a Writer Go?

by Rachael Phillips

Are you the kind of writer who can write in a parked SUV until your muddy soccer players (at least, you hope they’re yours) pile onto your seats? Can you outline a novel while sitting in a drive-through line, not bothering to look up when you shift gears to edge ahead? Can you pound out a chapter in a Starbucks invaded by an entire middle school of coffee connoisseurs armed with video games?

Then you, my writing friend, are blessed with qualities of concentration I can only dream of.

In order to write, I need a peaceful place where I can park my creaky frame in a cushy sofa or chair. Desks stifle my creativity. So do real waistbands—elastic, please, or none. I want a room with windows I can open or shut, according to my body’s hot flash weather report, with a view of something green or pretty that doesn’t need watering, trimming, or re-potting. Two cups of real coffee early in the morning are a must, then a large, steaming pot of decaf to warm me throughout a fall or winter day. When temperatures rise, a pitcher of iced tea or water is my constant writing companion.

But most of all, I need quiet—sweet silence or muted small-town noises, enhanced by the audio velvet of classical music.     

I am spoiled because I began my writing career during midlife—after my children had lost their last residue of mom admiration and either rolled eyes or ran screaming when I addressed them. As they left, one by one, for college, I grew accustomed to my everyday quiet writing kingdom, where I can plan my schedule and wear jammies all day, if I so choose.

However, small, not-too-distant rumblings have begun, barely perceptible now, but growing louder with every day … retirement.

My husband’s, not mine.

He is a considerate, supportive spouse, mindful of my need for solitude.

But if he reads, sitting near me, he just has to share passages that excite him.

Deeply spiritual, he loves to discuss what God has been teaching him. In great detail. 

He sneezes. And flushes. He crunches big bowls of mixed nuts and guzzles ice cream my diet-starved soul longs for.

Can it be that I may have to banish my laptop and me to my [gasp!] office?

How about you? What writing-space issues have you faced, and how did you solve them? 

The Silence of White Noise

By Darren Kehrer

No matter what genre you write, we all have one thing in common as writers (besides using words, that is): we all write within an environment: a physical place we do our writing:

• an office
• a coffee shop
• the local mall
• at our primary "day" job (but on our lunch hour, of course).
• an outdoor setting

......the list is endless with many combinations and variations.

Where you write can directly impact your daily writing routine, inspire new ideas, but can also help or hinder your writing process.

For me, I must have some kind of background noise...most preferably music... that reflects the story or genre I am writing. An environment of silence only hinders my writing process. On the other hand, I sometimes like writing at a Panera, McDonald's, or similar location. The background activity of those environments serves to create a white noise environment that causes me to focus more on what I'm writing. Oddly enough, I've even observed people and their interactions that often inspires an idea that I can use in my writing.

I do, however, prefer to write to music. Given that fact, I find myself combining those two concepts. The music fuels the ideas in my head, and the visual hustle-and-bustle serves as visual white noise. In conjunction, both serve to maximize my writing time and results.

What about you? Where do you like to write? Do you write in silence, to music, or some combination?

Where Do You Write Right?

Where do you do your writing? This is my space--at the top of the stairs in the hallway. Yes, this is a roll top desk, but I would have to swoop all that junk off in order to close it.

 I'm always curious as to where everyone does their writing. I have to ask for forgiveness for my envy (especially when I see Deb Raney's studio. It's so beautiful.) My environment is really important to me and it can mean the difference from getting a lot done to a complete standstill. 

Over the years I've had my "perfect office" to where I am now--a crowded desk at the top of the stairs next to my bedroom (where, because my husband worked all night, he's snoring and I have to be quiet. My laptop sound is muted.)

This latest office area is what I call Organized Central Chaotic Control. My chair is crippling me, but I tried the exercise ball to sit on, and while it's great for my back, let's just say--not too smart for a klutz like me--at the top of the stairs. (Yikes.) I have to have a small, skinny chair so we can pass by. I'm looking into getting a different chair. 

Our house is open concept so with four grown sons at home at the moment, plus, two dogs, I can hear all noise from every single room, including the garage. I'm the kind of person who works best in an organized, quiet area and right now this isn't cutting it. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

Here's the top of my desk. I love my owl painting print, but I really don't look at it when I have my nose in my computer.

This is my view behind my chair. Yes, that's the front door. Ding-dong and the dog alarms go off, too. 

This is one dog alarm. Her name is Lizzie and she is a West Highland Terror...er, Terrier. This is the view from my desk over the railing.

This is Bear, my other Dog Alarm, but he's pretty sweet (he's a Scotty.)

 
What is important to you when you're writing? What are your absolute "must haves?" I have found over the years that my list is simple, but not simple to achieve. 


1. I must have quiet. People talking to me, noise from a TV or radio, music, dogs barking--these all interrupt my thoughts and distract me from being in my writing world. 
2. A good, working laptop. I really do not like working on a desk top computer. I like reading on my computer and have edited many manuscripts on the computer.
3. A comfortable chair. 
4. Breaks to get up and go outside.
5. My materials/research close by my laptop. 
6. Something to sip, like water or coffee or iced tea.

 Whatever your list, it is important to find what works. You could be working in your chair in your living room, like Colleen Coble does. You could be at your kitchen table, like Debbie Macomber started off doing. Or you could have a lovely office like Deb Raney, who started off at her kitchen table with four kids. But finding the time is most important. 


I complain about this set up right now, but eventually I'll find what works better. And it might be right here, because I just need a good chair, some headphones and to clean up my desk, don't you think?

Writing isn't really just a place--it is an action. You can find what works best for you, but it's really about making the time. And that, my writing friends, is the important takeaway from this blog. Plus, I just really want to know:

Where do you write? 

And if you're curious as to where some published authors write, here's a link to Author Donita K. Paul's pages showing a big list of authors' writing spaces. Enjoy! And dream on, just keep writing!
http://www.donitakpaul.com/gallery/offices/

Crystal Laine Miller  

 

Confession of a Freelance Writer

A cold, blustery wind blew from the west, sneaking its way through the crevices in my hundred year old farmhouse. Earlier that day I’d bustled the children off to school and hubby off to work. A rare day with no call from the school to substitute and no place to go until that evening, I was home alone. With just the dog and a steaming cup of coffee to keep me company and keep me warm, I snuggled on the couch with my laptop and wrote. And wrote some more.

The blowing wind and the hum of my computer masked the crunch of tires on gravel. Suddenly the hair on the dog’s back went up and then came a thundering knock on the back door. My heart hammered with panic and I shushed the dog, remaining completely still. He’ll go away if he thinks no one is home. There was no way I was answering that door. I was still in my pajamas…and it was 2 o’clock. In. The. Afternoon.

There’s a dirty little confession for you. Sometimes when I’m home alone and the day looms gray and drab and my calendar is blessedly empty, I get involved in my writing and just don’t bother to change into something more professional. It appears I’m not the only one.

At the same time that clothing companies are catering to teenagers and adults who like to wear their jammies every day, all day long, some opponents are raising an outcry. Some rail against the public wearing of pajamas calling it everything from slovenly (saying if you’re dressed for bed you won’t be at your best) to a health hazard (because people usually don’t shower before they put on nightclothes and bacterial infections could lead to death—seriously, this is what someone argued!). They wonder what will become of our nation if we permit people to wear their pj's in public. Will underwear be acceptable next? Maybe we’ll become so lazy as to not wear clothing at all? I think not. (And for the record, when my kids were little and we had “Pajama Day”, they always took a bath that night and changed into clean jammers. Take that, Commissioner Williams!)

Michael Williams (see health hazard reference above), a Louisiana parish commissioner ,even went so far as to negate the wearing of nightclothes in public by proposing a law. (At this writing it has been put to bed for the time-being.) How would you like that job added to your list of duties if you were a Louisiana police officer? Upholding the peace, responding to emergencies, risking your life, and barring the wearing of bedclothes.

I won’t be sporting my sleepwear to the grocery, the bank, or my child’s sporting event. But to say that people who don’t change out of their nightshirts into neckties are lazy or unproductive? To this I say, “Hogwash!” If I can get an entire day’s worth of work or writing done, not dirty more laundry, and stay comfy in my flannels that’s a win-win-win. The only thing I can’t do is answer the door to the UPS guy.

Nikki Studebaker Barcus

Saga of the Clean Desk Resolution er, Maybe

It's a new year: time to embrace new habits, turn over new leaves, determine to write without cliches--and vow to keep a clean desk. Out of all the new year's resolutions I make, keeping my desk clean on a daily basis is the most challenging.

But from what I've discovered via self-help blogs this morning, keeping this resolution will be a lot easier than I thought.

Tip #1: Organize the paper on your desk. Acquire an in-box, an incubate box, a tickler file, current projects rack, file cabinet, recycling bin, garbage bin and shredder. That sounds like an awful lot of things for me to keep track of. At my age I'm doing well to find my desk. My method of using post-it notes to keep track of my piles serves me pretty well, so I'm sticking with it.

Tip #2: Banish post-it notes because they're ugly. That's a rather subjective opinion, don't you think?  You might have ugly post-it notes, but I have pretty purple ones, butterfly shaped ones, some that look like apples, flowers and ice cream cones. Besides, if I don't leave notes pointing me to my glasses every morning I won't be able to see them anyway. And once I find my glasses, I need my post-its to remind me what my protag is doing next and that I have a doctor's appointment. Nope. The post-it notes stay. Otherwise I could end up being kidnapped by a biker gang and searching for my epiphany while my male protag ends up going to my gynecologist.

Tip #3: Trash those printouts. This is a great idea except that, I can't always find the document on my computer because I'm old school. Sure, it might look like the printer threw up on my desk, but I know exactly where I put that page of research I did on giant squids for my turn of the century naval adventure. I'm pretty sure it's filed under that cupcake post-it note attached to the ice cream post-it ...no wait, that's a real cupcake...strawberry sprinkles! My favorite!

Tip #4: Keep blank file folders and a label marker near your desk. Like how near? And how do you expect me to add this to my current array of papers and post-its? Which box do these go in? The tickle one or the incubator one?

Tip #5: Throw away pens. Are you kidding me? I'm a writer. We can never find a pen when we need one.


Tip #6: Say no to schwag. You know, all that free stuff you get at conventions like pens, stickers, free magazines, brochures, bookmarks and books. Hello? I'm a self-employed writer. I need all the free junk I can get.(Especially pens.) I can always try to sell the other stuff if my contracts don't come through or burn it for fuel when they turn off the utilities.

Tip #7: Get rid of any books you don't use on a regular basis. Uhm, I'm in the book writing business, and while I might not read every book I own every single day, they are my friends, my buds, my posse. Who else is going to listen to my plotting strategies without talking back? I depend on them to surround me with literary affection and love. My books are staying thankyouverymuch.

Tip #8: Eat away from your desk. Like that's going to happen when often the only writing time in my day is carved out during lunch. Now where'd I see that cupcake?

Tip #9: Limit photo frames on your desk. Photo frames? I have photo frames? There might be some filed underneath that ebook on organization I printed out the other day.

Tip #10: To get started organizing your desk, take everything out of the drawers and pile it on top of your desk and sort. Hey! I've got the first part of this tip licked already! But I'm too tired to sort today. I'll start on that tomorrow.

I better leave myself a note.

Gifts Writers Love

People think writers are hard to find gifts for. I disagree. Give us a pencil, a pad of paper and a coupon book for an endless amount of free time, and we're happy. But, if you insist on spending money on us, who am I to stop you? Here are some ideas for gifting writers.

1. It's not too unique, but writers love books. Especially in the genre they write in, and most especially in the genre they don't write in. Oh, and they especially, especially appreciate books on the writing craft. Okay, so maybe just a gift card to a bookstore or amazon.com is in order.
2. A Kindle or other ebook reader. We're back to books again. Fine. A gift card so the writer can purchase the ebook reader of their choice is again a very good choice. (If you're buying for me, I want the new and improved Kindle, k? Thanks.)
3. Coupons/gift cards to their favorite hang out -- Starbucks, Coffee Shops, etc.
4. If you are buying for the lady writer, this lipstick flash drive or this adorable purse flash drive is the ticket. For the not-so-girly-girl or guy there are other unique flash drives here,  or here and here.
5. It gets cold in my office where I write, so  I imagine writers could use a pair of handerpants or fingerless gloves. Not to mention warm slippers or booties for keeping writers' feet warm on cold wooden or tile floors in winter time.
6. When writers are working on a project they don't get to cook very much so this bacon air freshener or corn dog air freshener would come in handy and help the family feel like they had a home cooked meal while eating delivered pizza for the umpteenth time. 
7. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite as well as a generous gift of eggnog soap.
8. Even the best writers can suffer from writer's block. This inflatable brain might help or a gift card to iTunes so they can purchase the Writer's Block Assassin app would be app-propriate. (See what I did there?)
9. If your writer has a deadline close to Christmas, they may feel better about missing the Christmas frenzy of fruitcake and turkey by your thoughtfulness in gifting them with these inflatable ones.
10. Some writers are neat and tidy, and others, like me, live er, a little more creatively. For those who are a little challenged in the area of tidiness, this mini-file for all those business cards they collected at the last writer's convention is handy dandy.
11. For the suspense writer, nothing says Merry Christmas better than a knife stabbing the refrigerator/file cabinet or splat stan coaster or knife coat hook or dead Fred pen holder.
12. For the writer who often loves to play host and hostess, they'll love these.
13. Etsy.com is one of my favorite places to find unique, handmade gifts. I like the site because I'm helping independent artists such as myself (writers are artists, right?). Find unique gifts for writers here.
14. I love my headphones and ear buds for listening to music while I'm writing. They also help block out the sounds of the house. However, I'm constantly misplacing them. You can never have too many. Find some cute ones here, and here and an adorable way to store and keep track of them here.
15. Actually, the ideas for writers are endless. They'll love a moleskine journal, or a nice pen, the 2011 Christian Writer's Market Guide, or tuition to a writer's conference.
16. The kids can make a coupon gift of writing time for Mom. The spouse can promise not to complain when a deadline looms and they have to stay in the writing zone.

I am acquainted with a lot of writers, and I think I know what they would like the most of all this Christmas. Most of all they'd like your love and support. They'd like time with their families. They'd like to know that you "get" what they're doing, and believe that what they are doing is leaving a legacy because words are forever.

Okay, fine. What they really want -- are contracts. Lots and lots of contracts. And chocolate.

Merry Christmas!

Street Smarts for the Writer PART TWO

We never go into a room to write alone, we go crowded by our own experiences—Julia Cameron

The essential ingredient for any novelist is driveness.—John Gardner

Over time authors have discovered that routine is a better friend than inspiration.—Ralph Keyes

Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder.—Raymond Chandler

A novelist’s discipline and technique are infinitely more important than inspiration.—David Madden

The correct detail is rarely exactly what happened; the most truthful detail is what could have happened, or what should have.—John Irving

Don’t say the old lady screamed—bring her on and let her scream.—Mark Twain

No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money—Samuel Johnson

No one but a blockhead ever wrote except for love…You must do it for love. If you do it for money, no money will ever be enough, and eventually you will start imitating your first successes, straining hot water through the same old teabag. It doesn’t work with tea, and it doesn’t work with writing.—Erica Jong

Words in prose ought to express the intended meaning; if they attract attention to themselves, it is a fault; …Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all. –Winston Churchill

After I had written the Grapes of Wrath and it had been to a large extent read and sometimes burned, the librarians at Salinas Public Library, who had known my folks, remarked that it was lucky my parents were dead so that they did not have to suffer this shame. I tell you this so you may know what to expect. Now get to work—John Steinbeck

Often I am asked if any writer ever helped or advised me. None did. However, I was not asking for help either, and I do not believe one should. If one wishes to write, he or she had better be writing, and there is no real way in which one writer can help another. Each must find his own way. –Louis L’Amour

Books don’t get easier to write. It’s not a formula.—Terry McMillan

…for the most, writing is now just a horrible grim burden. I wouldn’t do it if I were not morally engaged to do it.— Katherine Anne Porter

My schedule is flexible, but I am rather particular about my instruments; lines Bristol cards and well-sharpened, not too hard, pencils capped with erasers.— Vladimir Nabokov

I write my first version in longhand. Then I do a complete revision, all in long hand. Then I type a third draft on yellow paper, a very special certain kind of yellow paper.—Truman Capote

An author must develop a deliberate process used to help facilitate the writing experience, otherwise there is no way to retrace those steps and repeat them.—Stanley D. Williams (The Moral Premise)

KennyNoble@hotmail.com

What Does Your Imagination Sound Like?

Greetings and welcome to the establishment. In a previous post, “The Sound That You Write To,” I dealt with the types of sounds, music, and acoustic environments that I find myself putting words onto paper. In this week’s installment, I would like to push that thought a little further and talk about what fuels my imagination in hopes that you might give it a try.

Everyone has something that drives his or her creative abilities. In my case, I use the above-mentioned sounds to inspire, create, and imagine my stories and tales of adventure. For me, music and other acoustic sounds “fuel” my imagination and resulting creative processes.

Warning: techno-speak. Reading through the laws of thermodynamics, the law of conservation states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant over time. A consequence of this law is that energy can neither be created nor can it be destroyed, it can only be transformed from one state to another. This means that the only thing that can happen to energy in a closed system is that it can change form. For example, chemical energy can become kinetic energy. I would like to add “acoustic energy can become creative energy” as one of the extensions of this example.

My “creation process” represents the closed system (encompassing basically everything within God’s Universe which one pulls from to create stories). The music that I listen to represents acoustic energy. My imagination then transforms this energy via the creative process. The result is a story, idea, or scene that you create from “nothing.” Your imagination is the mechanism by which this transformation takes place. I can relate the different types of music I listen to, which fuels my creative thought processes, to the different octane ratings of fuel that you can put into your car. The different beats, tempos, instruments, voices, and genres can all be combined in infinite ways to create different “octane” levels, all producing different results. In this case, volume level serves to increase or decrease the “purity” of the octane mixture.

Ok, enough “techno-speak.” Right? I will leave the underlying scientific explanation to The Lord (as He is the Ultimate Authority on the laws of physics). But…..maybe the following explanation will help to simplify this idea:

Take a piece of rainbow-colored paper (representing the universe God has created) and put it into a paper shredder (representing the energy process being transformed and not destroyed). Then take the strips of shredded paper (representing transformed energy waiting to be used to create a story) and lay them out onto a flat surface in random ways (representing your imagination creating a story and putting it into words). The result: you get a new, different picture (story) when compared to the one you originally started with. In my case, the music is the original rainbow-paper. It is then fed into my imagination (the shredder). The resulting “transformed energy” is then used to “create” stories, plots, and characters. Same concept happens when segments of music you listen to gives you “goosebumps.” The music, in this case, is just channeled into another form of energy: creative energy.

Ok, nothing New Age or anything like that here…just trying to find an analogy to explain how music seems to inspire my creation process. I find that when I can’t think of a plot, characters to tackle that plot, or even a setting for my story to take place; I just put on some music, close my eyes, and watch the whole thing get created on my internal theater system. It just happens. Then, as it happens, I just start actively controlling the scenes.

As I have been writing this post, the cd changer has been going through several mixes I have done to inspire my writing process. Let’s see, A-Ha (80’s group), Loreena McKennitt (Celtic), and Lou Gramm (80’s again) have all been helping me “get energized” to write this post.

Remember, God’s Imagination Makes All Things Possible…even the impossible (hint, we call those miracles). If God didn’t have an imagination, we just wouldn’t be here. So, put on your headphones, spin up your favorite music, and let the stories flow.

The Sound That You Write To

Do you write with silence in the background, the London Symphony Orchestra in full glory behind you, or do you like to write with the sound of the wind, rain, and thunder bouncing off of your roof and windows? What sound do you write to? What acoustic melodies, harmonies, or eclectic sounds inspire your writing and drive it forward? That is my question to you.

Authors are sometimes asked, "What meaning are you writing between the lines?" I like to change that a bit and say, "What music are you hearing between the lines?" As writers, we look for inspiration in many places. Some of us look for inspiration in the daily news, in our family stories, in our own lives, and in the farthest realms of our imaginations. I would like to add to that list the sounds of music that touches your heart, mind, and spirit.

I offer this thought to support my addition: Behind many great movies, TV shows, plays, and even TV commercials, dwells the musical themes that enhance those scenes being viewed. In the background of my writing den, I play music as a driving force of inspiration behind the characters, scenes, and dramas unfolding on the page before me. Dare I say it--Music is my "silent character," the unseen narrator of the story in my mind.

To that end, I like to use iTunes to make my own "soundtrack to my book" playlists. As I am writing scenes, I play the corresponding music from my vast library of music to inspire the feelings and scenes of my characters. Unless your talents include the ability to write, produce, and record your own soundtracks, you may have to settle for the vast amount of music already out there in the great land of "The iTunes Continuum." On that "note," I have seen several Christian fiction books where characters created songs and music within the context of the story. Then, in the back of that book, the author has placed the sheet music for those songs. What's next, a free music download from the author's website to play as you read the story?

Whatever you're writing and working on, be it something new or something you pulled out of storage, fill your writing environment with the music you enjoy and see what unfolds. What Christian tunes fill in the gaps and set the mood behind your characters' actions, lives, and thoughts. What if George Lucas would have been able to listen to the soundtrack to Star Wars before it was written, or if the creators of Superman could have been listening to the Superman movie theme as they were creating that colossal comic book superhero.

If you write to the sound of silence, the background noise of the local coffee shop, your favorite radio station, or one of the various tracks in your collection, use that music to fuel the engine that inspires you to create the stories that the Lord has placed upon your heart to tell. That music becomes the invisible notes that permeate your writing and fill the gaps between your lines.