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Basically, is there an environment that you have to be in to write? If so what is it?
I certainly do. It is really weird too. It has to be late at night, multiple cups of coffee, and loud rap music. I dont like that much rap so it gets hard sometimes.
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Ewww, rap.... how disgusting! Industrial and darkwave, that's the noise I want filling up the brain-cracks. Otherwise, just a lack of interruptions when I don't want 'em. I've had to threaten to disconnect the phone....
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Well, I'd *like* to be in a silent, restful place where no one will disturb me for hours and coffee magically appears when I think of it.
However, most of my writing is done at the kitchen table with Bob the Builder in the background, between requests for more raisins and potty breaks; much occurs with pre-teens playing music and skyping me to ask if they can go swimming, go to the mall, go play with a friend, or go buy candy; then, if I'm lucky, at the end of the day I am still awake, and it's quiet, and I do some writing in that silent, restful place!
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I write mostly in my office. I like to write with music on, generally something without any words/lyrics in it. The exact music depends on the type of story.
I am one of those people who need lots of quiet, alone time to be productive. I hate hate hate getting interrupted, so I try to plan for writing during times when I know I won't be. I also turn off my phone and make sure all firefox windows are closed etc and the doors are locked.
I can get stuff done when I'm away from the house, but not nearly at the same production level. My office is awesome and has lots of note pads, stickie notes, motivational sayings stuck on the walls, and plenty of reference books on hand. Writing when I'm not home feels too weird :P
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I usually have the television or radio blaring, I will follow what is on TV for the most part, glancing when something interesting is going on, but will miss somethings if I zone out. Games are great as they have instant replays if I miss something good.
I usually eat at the keyboard and have a drink nearby.
If I had a working lap top, I would write just about anywhere, doctor's office, laundry mat, any place else I can set up and write. About my only requirement is to have some light shining on the keyboard, even if the keyboard is lit.
Noise and activity does not bother me in my writing as long as I am comfortable (sleep has the same rules).
quote: I am one of those people who need lots of quiet, alone time to be productive. I hate hate hate getting interrupted, so I try to plan for writing during times when I know I won't be. I also turn off my phone and make sure all firefox windows are closed etc and the doors are locked.
I'm like that too, izanobu. Unfortunately, at this point in life, I have very, very little guaranteed uninterrupted time, so I bang out what I can with the world intruding all around me. It's far from ideal, and I think I'm a lot less productive than I'd be if I could go work in my office uninterrupted -- but I'm a lot *more* productive than I'd be if I limited myself to those moments at this stage in my life.
Thoughts of a future when my time becomes my own again beckon, and keep me going. :-)
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Heating up baby bottles now, but just finished a session alone at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Peace and quiet without music or tv and a stretch of a couple hours would be my ideal, but I take whatever and whenever I can get.
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posted
Cue the Medeski Martin & Wood + coffee, as early as possible in the mornings. On my couch when I'm at home or in the Germantown Starbucks when I'm doing my monthly commute to the Capital area.
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It varies a lot for me. I am not a morning person at all so that's out. I try to get a little bit of writing in while at the day job some days when it's slow. Mostly I write at night. Unfortunately, this has the bad tendency to keep me up far too late if I really get into a groove.
Sometimes I have music, sometimes not, it depends on my mood. The type of music depends on what I'm writing.
[This message has been edited by coralm (edited March 04, 2011).]
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Well, I write in what I call "my office," which is where I keep my computer. I've thought of getting a laptop and typing things out while lying in bed---I did this years ago with a one-lung word processor---but I get by with what I've got.
(Actually, "my office," and it's accompanying room, "my library," are a shambles, crammed full of messy piles of books and papers and whatnot. I promised myself I'd clean out "my office," at least, but I promised in January and here it is the beginning of March and it's no cleaner...)
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Alright so my best environment. Empty house. Laptop on the pass through from entry to family room. And me pacing. Scenes are more vivid for me when I pace. The laptop on the pass through, means I can stand and type, perfect height. Empty house, means well, no kids.
Now, I hardly ever get the perfect environment anymore so I settle for, evening, sofa, with laptop on well, my lap, and tv on. I dont watch but do enjoy the background noise.
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I have to smile at all the requirements people have to write. I'm an at-home dad with four kids. One of those is a three-year-old. I don't have an office, nor any place in the house that is exclusively mine.
But I have a laptop and that's all I need. I've trained myself to write anywhere in the house -- on the couch in the living room in the chair in the playroom, the other chair in the parlor, laying on my bed.
When the kids are in school I write when my 3 yr old takes has quiet time -- from 12:30 to 2:30. Most days I can squeeze an hour in during the morning while he's content to play quietly.
On weekends when everyone is at home, all I just go to our bedroom, put on a pair of headphones and turn the music up loud enough so I can't hear the life being lived around me.
I write with Scrivener, which is a godsend b/c it allows me to keep notes in the same program I write in.
Oh, and I use Freedom for Mac to lock me off the Internet. Just too damn tempting.
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Music gives me lots of ideas and thoughts when I reach writers block or am just looking for ideas, but when it comes to writing I prefer silence (as a father of three little boys that is hard to come by).
Sometimes a nice outdoor setting makes for good writing too. But mostly its my bedroom late at night clicking away until my wife hits me for keeping her awake.
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Jeff Ambrose: That sounds like an awesome program, the one that keeps you off the internet...for me I don't have a mac though, but I do have dial-up and a modem that doesn't like to share if the printer has been plugged in first (I have no idea why). So I suppose if I just plug in the printer before booting up, the effort of fixing it will keep me off.
For myself: The setting isn't so important as whether I have any responsibilities that need my attention at the moment like my wife or since we run our own eatery, my customers. I write in the mornings before work and during the slow (variable) time at work.
One thing though, I used to write with music because it 'got me in the mood', but for myself looking back I realise the music decided the mood of the story. I ended up putting in prose and mechanics that came from the music rather than organic coming up from the story. That could just be me, but I keep the music off, I want to feel what my characters feel, not have them feel what I'm listening too.
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Enigmaticuser, Consider turning the music thing around into your favor. I know the mood of the scene(s) I'm about to write and click that type of music on. You can't imagine how much heavy metal I'm listening to right now while writing my crime thriller...
But during softer scenes or stories, I've enjoyed lots of varied artists. I had a long Evanescence phase when one of my characters was traveling post-death with the Keeper of souls. Good times.
I edit with Trance music on. I move too quickly to try to match mood, and I see the editing as more mechanical instead of inspirational, so I just let the beats hit my ears.
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I write wherever I can. I travel for my job constantly, so I do a lot in airports, in hotel rooms (usually with the TV on in the background). Honestly I do most of my writing in my head during the day when I have spare moments between tasks at work. After going back to the hotel at night at night I just try to regurgitate whatever I thought up.
Personally, I could never use a program that keeps me off the internet. I am constantly consulting wikipedia as a resource to do research in real time as I write. It can get distracting, sure, but as long as I stay mostly on-topic, I find I can get a lot of inspiration out of reading through a few articles related to topics that I'm looking up.
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This post started me thinking. I'd love to write at my work during my breaks and lunch, but they don't allow any type of laptop, netbook because its a government facility. Now they won't even let me have my eBook (nook) because it can connect to the internet.
So that leaves me writing at home. I am in the same position as alot of you, I have two kids ages 5 and 3. Mostly that means I write really late at night after they are sleeping.
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Six days out of seven I write at a cafe first thing in the morning, most of which is at McDonalds at 5.30am, armed with a coffee and the laptop's wifi switched off. The kids aren't up yet, and I don't have to be at work for a few hours.
On Sundays I don't go out due to other family commitments first thing in the morning, and attempting to reach the same wordcount with constant interruptions then becomes a frustrating experience. (Somehow the 2yo just doesn't understand "I'm working")
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