Constant Content

Some of your may find this interesting - short interviews with six authors about their writing rituals, inspiration, and work spaces:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/nort ... 340217.stm

OOoo! So many morning people! I worked nights for so many years I have trouble forming a *thought* before 11am!


AThompson

This is going to sound awful, but it's the truth. All of the answers were so... old. It made me think of writers as stuffy, boring people who are introverts and love nothing more than shutting themselves up in an office/study. "I get distracted by people talking in the lane..."

I guess it's just such a stark contrast to myself. I love being around people, and writing with hard metal cranked way way up. I will drag my laptop and thus writing world to the nearest cafe with free wifi, just to get away from it all. I don't have a set place to work in my house, because I feel the inspiration to write from my bed, living room chaise, and kitchen table. We have an office in the house, but it just holds files, the printer, and servers. It's more of a storage room than anything else, since both of us work from our laptops.

Just me, the writer...

Actually, I was going to ask the authors here to answer the questions posed to these authors and see how everyone compared.

I do agree that the responses could have been more original, but I'm one of those writers who needs complete silence, and that's why you won't catch me working in an office environment as an underling. I even hate the sound of the heater kicking on, the whir of my computer, the dogs barking outside. I fantasize about taking a room in a monastery and writing (seriously).

Okay. I'll go first. I'll try not to sound like a stuffy old lurch with no sense of humor.

Where are you?
That's what I'd like to know . . . Where am I?

What are you writing with?
A sense of purpose.

What is the oddest object in front of you?
My dog, who looks like an Ewok.

What are you listening to?
My computer is making coffee, the birds are silent after a brief spring shower, and the sound of my typing sounds loud in the room.

Is there anyone else in the room?
No. Even my muse is sleeping in late this Sunday afternoon.

What time of day is it?
Too early for a drink.

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration?
Travel websites, artists' creations (pottery work is a favorite), biographies of writers, or some fresh bread dough that I've just made in order to get myself away from the screen.

What is guarantee to remove your concentration?
Children throwing rocks at the house. The bass of some passing car. The lonesome howl of the neighbor's neglected dog. A letter from my mother. Exhaustion - either physical or mental. The onset of a headache. The smell of baking pie.


Who will go next?

HAHA, I actually put my responses on my new blog: eawestwriting.wordpress.com.

Mine are much longer, but then again everyone who knows me wouldn't have me any other way!

Always Smiling,
Elizabeth

Ed: LOL!

Your computer is making coffee? I need to get me one of those! I'll read the link later on and post my chaotic answers (I prefer silence too but my situation is far from silent these days....)

Great site, Elizabeth!

I answered these questions on my blog.

http://avthompson.wordpress.com/

My blog is also new, but not as nice as yours, Elizabeth! Is that a free template? Gorgeous! I have to learn how to spice stuff up.


AThompson

AT

I do like the sound of your table! I've always toyed with the idea of doing something like that on one of the walls in the loo (washroom), as I've seen pictures in interior design mags where it's looked great (and of course, it means that there is, should you need it, reading material always at hand!). Did you just glue the pictures on and then paint on some type of sealant?

As to your answers, I don't mind so much the nextdoor neighbours' kids' shrieking as I do their dog's barking (although to be fair, it's only when I venture out in the garden that he starts). Anyway, it's great at the moment as during the day the kids are at school . Not too sure how I'll feel come August though!

JD

Celeste, my computer only makes coffee for itself, when it's thinking really hard and can't come up with a solution for some internal problem. Selfish.

Thanks JD!

I bought a product that is both the glue and the clear finish. Decoupage...stuff. Don't remember the name, but it was just for decoupage and I got it at a craft store.

I have edited the post on my blog, so now it has a couple of pics of my desk!


AThompson

Here is list of my "writuals."

What are you writing with?

A Toshiba Satellite laptop loaded witth Windows Vista Home Premium and MS Office Word 2007 if you really care.

What's the oddest object in front of you?

The oddest? Hmmn... The construction paper moose that's supposed to be a red-nosed reindeer that my daughter made for me? How about the bunched up wads of formerly-wet coffee filters this same daughter gave me and told me to protect? "Hide them from Daddy," she whispered. Maybe it's my uncashed tax refund from the state, collecting dust because I'm too lazy to go to the brick and mortar bank. (For some reason the state didn't like my direct deposit information).

What are you listening to?

The sound of my family all tucked in. ZZZZZZZ

Is there anyone else in the room?

No. *Yawn* They are all asleep. ZZZZZZZZ

What time of day is it?

10:17 at night. *Yawn*

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration?

Non-fiction - The things I'm currently doing are fair game for new articles. If I'm busy researching plumbing, central air conditioners, or high efficiency furnaces because I need to replace or repair mine, I'll take my new knowledge and write an article or two about these things.

Fiction - Simple ideas are all I need. I'll set an idea free and put my characters through all kinds of crazy situations. How will they get through these scenarios? What if "such and such" happens?

This is an interesting thread.

AT - Thanks for posting the pics, the table looks great! So much better than my horrible, boring Ikea one. I am going to start saving pages now.

Anyway, here's my writual:

Where are you?
On the sofa. Although I also write in the back room, and at the dining table. I love wireless network connection!

What are you writing with?
My fingers and a laptop, about which I know very little only that it still feels nice and new.

What is the oddest object in front of you?
I can’t see anything that’s odd (at least not to me!).

What are you listening to?
Nothing, apart from the birds’ twittering. I love silence.

Is there anyone else in the room?
No.

What time of day is it?
7.15am (I was never up this early when I ‘worked’!).

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration?
English newspaper sites, blogs...

What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?
The telephone. And it will almost certainly be someone cold-calling – and asking to speak to my partner. Grrr!

How do you mitigate the un-ergonomic posture that the laptop requires?

I am waiting impatiently for the day when laptop with a vertically adjustable screen is available.