{"id":282,"date":"2010-10-14T09:56:03","date_gmt":"2010-10-13T22:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/?p=282"},"modified":"2022-08-04T00:25:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:25:54","slug":"ideal-writing-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/2010\/10\/14\/ideal-writing-place\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ideal Place for Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
The best place to write - on my bed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The latest post from Justin Bengry on History Compass Exchanges<\/a> has got me thinking about my ideal writing environment.\u00a0 Justin prefers writing in his apartment to the office and frankly I agree with him that writing under a fluorescent light is very uninspiring.<\/p>\n

My ideal writing environment is our queen size bed.\u00a0 I have found that it\u00a0 is the perfect place to spread my folders, books and articles and sit all day writing on my\u00a0 laptop.\u00a0 Yes I do have a desk, two actually, but I have always preferred to work on the floor, on a bed or a couch.\u00a0 There is nothing like being in a sea of articles and books, with the my legs up, back slightly reclined against a pillow or cushiony sofa in a sunny room.\u00a0 This enables me to get me into that relaxed but focussed zone where words and ideas swish around ready to be caught and strung together.<\/p>\n

While writing is something that is a solitary process, for many of us it is a solitary process that has to be conducted in a place we share with others.\u00a0 The bed may be the ideal setup for me, but it is not so ideal for Hubble – my other half.\u00a0 Over the last few months he has found that he cannot go to bed earlier than 10:30pm, sometimes later.\u00a0 At least I don’t use the bed for all-night writing efforts.\u00a0 I have also been patient if Hubble decides to sleep longer in the mornings.\u00a0 Hubble’s body clock is not always synchronised with my writing schedule, but over the months we have been able to work a satisfactory solution.\u00a0 And most importantly Hubble has been wonderfully patient with my rather odd writing habits.<\/p>\n

In our previous house it was the couch in the family room that was my preferred writing environment.\u00a0 There was a good amount of floor space next to it and a convenient small table to help me impose some layered order to my references.\u00a0 There was also a good amount of grumbling from my family because I left my stuff there for weeks at a time while working on something.\u00a0 I have reformed and now pack away all my material each night.<\/p>\n

Well… maybe ‘reformed’ is the wrong word – ‘forced’ is more like it.\u00a0 If we want any sleep I have to pack the stuff away!<\/p>\n

So what are the elements that are important to me in the place where I write?\u00a0 I have realised that it is space, light, preferably natural light, and room to put my legs up.\u00a0 Physical relaxation is essential.\u00a0 From reading Justin’s article I think he has the same requirements minus the need to have the legs up.\u00a0 I wonder if this is the same for other writers?<\/p>\n

There are different\u00a0 stages of writing and they have different requirements.\u00a0 I have been describing the environment I need for the creative stage.\u00a0 Next comes the moulding stage.\u00a0 Sometimes the first drafts have such significant structural problems that I need to cut up the entire draft, sticky tape each paragraph onto a separate piece of scrap paper and sort it into piles according to my new structure.\u00a0 Once again a big bed or large floor area is essential.\u00a0 But mostly I find that the moulding stage is best done on Hubble’s\u00a0 computer which has four monitors (he’s in IT so we have great equipment).\u00a0 This makes the cutting and pasting easier.\u00a0 Hopefully the moulding stage coincides with his time at the office, otherwise there is a bit of jostling for his computer.<\/p>\n

Each stage of writing history requires a different mentality.\u00a0 The creative stage is artistic and that is why the environment is critical.\u00a0 I find the moulding stage draws more on logical thought processes.\u00a0 Sitting at a desk suits this type of thinking more.\u00a0 This is also reflected in which hand I use to write with.\u00a0 I am ambidextrous and generally find that writing with my left hand is what I need to unleash the artistic and deep thought in the creative stage whereas correcting and ordering my writing is definitely right handed work.<\/p>\n

I have only described my writing environment in visual and kinesthetic terms.\u00a0 What about sound?\u00a0 I have had irritation all year because gardeners turn up unannounced once a fortnight or so to spend four hours trimming hedges around our place with very noisy hedge trimmers.\u00a0 Hearing RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR at loud volume for even thirty minutes gets to me and I end up leaving the house and losing that writing time.<\/p>\n

Our CD player died during the year and I didn’t get around to using the DVD player to play music.\u00a0 Years ago I found Nora Jones<\/a> was conducive to good writing.\u00a0 Early this year I enjoyed playing Cold Chisel<\/a> up loud, but generally I have written in silence.\u00a0 Looking back I think if I had used music more while I worked I think I might have been more productive.\u00a0 One of the prominent historians at the University of Sydney writes with heavy metal blaring through his headphones.<\/p>\n

Having access to the right type of space in which to work is critical for writers.\u00a0 It doesn’t need to be anything expensive or fancy, but it does need to be right.\u00a0 What is your ideal writing environment?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A good environment in which to write is important to set the creative process going. But sometimes the ideal writing environment is not so ideal for those we live with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[106,198],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Yvonne Perkins","author_link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/author\/yvonne\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7244,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions\/7244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}