posted
I have a hard time writing when someone is reading over my shoulder while I am in the process of writing.
I'm curious if anyone else has this problem?
I live in a very small house with four other family members and my computer sits in the living room. There is an easy chair behind me and to the left and anyone that sits in it can read what is on my monitor. So I find that when someone sits in that chair I cannot write. Which can be very frustrating when the words and ideas are flowing.
posted
I get the same feeling at school when someone's nearby. It might eb the envionment as a whole but I can't write there at all. It feels like they're judging my first draft which is most often the one that isn't released publically. I think it's mostly because you're nervous about people seeing the first version and thinking that it's how it's going to look in the end.
Fortunately, I am an only child and my computer is tucked away in the corner upstairs so no one is really ever present when I do my writing.
If I could make a suggestion, try picking up an old clunker of a computer to use as your writing machine, or if the budget is available, a laptop can give you the ultimate freedom of moving around.
posted
LOL Ok, I am weird--it doesn't matter what is going on I can write. My office in this house has only three walls; the 4th wall is an open arch into the living room. My back is to the room and my hubby often stands behind me reading what I write and will point out typos ect as I go along.
I can stand noise and TV as well. Though radio bothers, so I listen to a non-English station that broadcasts in a language I do not know—if I don’t next thing I know I am typing what the announcer is saying. The old dictation habit takes over.
I can even write while carrying on a conversation with someone--I look at them, and the story continues to flow---
posted
I freeze up immediatly when somewhere nears the computer. If they are talking on the phone, well lets just say the program solitare.exe is initiated ... The best time for me to work is very late at night, I like the stillness.
Posts: 697 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I cannot stand other people around when I’m trying to write. If someone comes in the room and interrupts me then Poof -- there went whatever I was going to write down. I don’t even try to start if someone is already there. It is a total space, noise, concentration issue. I actually did buy a laptop at least partially so that I could go wherever I needed to go without interruptions (and the temptation of an internet connection), ideally closed door spaces where people know better than to enter at random.
On music... Personally there can be No Distinct Singing – even in foreign languages. The mind goes into sing-along mode, and I interrupt myself! I have found some fairly even intensity instrumental soundtracks are good for drowning out various bits of house noise, and I’ve played them so much during writing that they have actually become a mental cue to get down to business.
I used to be this way about writing school papers too. Drove me nuts when I’d finally framed my logic argument in my head just so, then someone would come by to ask some trivial questions, and I lost what had felt like the perfect way to put it all. Math type stuff though, that I could do with music blaring anything and people screaming out in the dorm corridor. Maybe the brain’s language centers get overloaded differently (mine anyway).
posted
Strange isn't it what can bother a person while writing? There is a TV about five feet to my right and it doesn't bother me at all, nor does people talking around me.
I do have a notebook in which I jot down notes about scenes, characters, setting, and other background information. I also jot down changes I want to make to things I have already written.
I think what makes it impossible for me to write with someone reading over my shoulder is that the words are too fresh from my mind. At that point they have not yet had the chance to become something separate -if that makes sense.
And I have this idea that whoever reads what I write as I write it, will think that I'm out of my gourd or off my rocker.
posted
I hear ya. I can't bear to have someone reading what I'm writing until it's finished. I share my house with two lodgers ... nosey buggers too. The number of times I have to alt+tab to something else to hide what I'm writing from thier prying eyes is ridiculous.
Mind .. I get the same when I'm chatting to someone on MSN too. Perhaps I'm just a freak.
posted
When I write I turn off all my messenger programs, turn on my music and just let things flow. If I get stuck I'll let my ears tune into the music for a bit and I can usually draw some 'next lines' from that.
Posts: 42 | Registered: Mar 2003
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