Writing and one's favorite spot...

I've always enjoyed learning "where" an author likes to their writing or feels they do their best writing. 

I heard Laurie Halse-Anderson speak before and she talked about how the end of her couch had indentations from her sitting there to do her writing so often.  I can't remember when in her career she was talking about yet it made an impact on me - we need to write where we are comfortable.  Today Laurie Halse-Anderson writes in a eco-friendly writing cabin in the woods somewhere with a beautiful circular window.  She blogged about the earth-friendliness and serenity of her writing cabin.  I was inspired to know an indentation of my bottom sitting in the same chair at home classified my writing zone yet her cabin inspired me to aim higher.  Some day my writing cottage will overlook the lake or ocean...ahh...

For now my favorite writing spot is determined by the writing task at hand. 
*If I am writing something for school to share with the students - I like to sit in the comfy chair with a mechanical pencil and yellow writing tablet on my lap with the television on and my family in the room.

*If I am writing an article for the newspaper - I'm at the laptop for easy research and quick typing.  Since I tend to be a "long winded" writer - to write clear, concise and short in length requires much "cutting" in a document.  There aren't enough erasers if I was to attempt this sitting in the comfy chair.  There is something about sitting in a computer chair to "work" versus the comfy chair designed for "relaxation". 

*If I am working on revising a chapter for my book - usually an environment of activity and noise.  I enjoy revising while sitting in the back of the room while my daughter has play practice - although it isn't quiet there is something going on around me.  If I had enough money I could sit in a tea or coffee shop, the food court at the mall or within a bookstore and revise my little heart out.  The commotion going on around me but not including me is fabulously engergizing.  Although there is a lot happening in my environment - the only thing I see are the words dancing in my  head while hearing the tapping of keys or pencil scratching on the paper. 

*Another favorite location to revise and edit - My parents house.  Oh my goodness, I accomplish so much when I sit at my parent's kitchen table, headphones on, music loudly playing and the heat of the woodstove bubbling perspiration on my forehead.  When I need a brain break - I enjoy a visit with my parents or simply take off the headphones and look up to see a wood burned picture of my sister Heidi and Sarah Ann Wood that was purchased for my parents by the New Haven Elementary School teachers.  And next to this is the enlargement of the NCMEC riders in the beauty of pink and blue the day they rode specifically for Heidi.  A reminder of why I write...

*If I am finalizing a chapter after critique - QUIET!  I need to be able to read each sentence aloud and "hear" what the reader heard.  I'm an auditory learner and writer - if I hear the words, then I can write them in a more professional and reader friendly way.   Sometimes the USMC clock on the wall near my computer is too loud and I have to move it - the ticking is too loud.

*If I am writing something new - I like to have my laptop beneath my fintertips so I can "dump" the thoughts and words from my brain to written word as quickly as possible.  I hit save and close the document when I'm finished and come back to it later for edits and further developing. 

There are some days I can't find a good place to write or the words just aren't there.    I have found when I can't write, I become irritable and a not-so-nice person to live with.  Instead of becoming the quenn of crank I need to stop and think about why this is so... the answer is simple, I hadn't prayed to ask God for protection and for His hand on my writing.  God is faithful when I take the time to seek Him first, then write.

To find out what I do when I get an idea and there isn't a keyboard or pad of paper around - read tomorrow's blog.

Lisa ;)