Room of Your Own

[sallytuppence]

So my house is being remodeled, and has been for the last month, and will be for the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile my family and I are living in a tiny rental house a few blocks away. Our house is Our House, and the rental is Baby James's House (because a baby named James used to live there

Comments

[pabba]

I'm poor and live in a studio apartment, which means I only have one room. So my bedroom/kitchen/living room/closet/bathroom/computer area/other is my favorite room to write in. :)

[sallytuppence]

So how do you manage? Do you do anything to make your living space into your writing space?

[pabba]

Hmm...actually, now that I think about it, I don't believe I manage well at all. My computer/writing desk is up against the wall with the TV next to it. Both the TV and the kitchen (mmm food!) being only a hop away is very distracting. I get a lot of solid writing done in Starbucks or early in the morning when nothing interesting is on TV.

I do have Le Guin's rejection letter for The Left Hand of Darkness hanging up near my desk as inspiration. :)

[charmingbillie]

I have an entire house of my own so theoretically I should be a writing machine.

And yet, I'm not.

This is either because I'm a dork, because I have too much other crap jamming up my head space or because I fall asleep every time I sit down to write....

[sallytuppence]

You need to drink more coffee!

The space problem is similar to the time problem. Like, if I quit my job I'd have more time to write, but that doesn't mean I'd actually write any more than I already do...

Also, a writing machine is called a typewriter...!

[charmingbillie]

Pfft! I can fall asleep while drinking coffee.

An afternoon nap everyday...that would make me super productive! (I can say this because there is little chance I will ever get one and thus have to prove this theory).

[mgsmurf]

I used to have a desk which the laptop sat on in the corner of the living room. But we've been in between places for awhile now, and living without much of our funiture (thus the desk) since Aug. So, I have the monitor on the ground, propped up so I can read it from a small chair I sit in with the keyboard on my lap. Slowly, I've gotten used enough to the layout to make it work as it's all I have right now.

We're moving into a house of our own this summer though, and not only do I get the desk back with an office room. But, we're getting a new low-end laptop which will mainly become mine for writing. Then I'm sure I'll find a few comfy chairs and places to write, including outside, as you can do that year round here.

[sallytuppence]

Sounds like a complicated set-up!

This is the trick that I must learn: like you, to make what you have work.

[raecarson]

...maybe I'll do another blog entry at some point on parenting and writing...

Yes, please. That's been the hardest thing for me since I married ccfinlay. Charlie's great and the boys are great, but after living alone for so long, I have no idea how to deal with constant distraction and how to continually REfocus throughout the day.

I guess it's just another skill set.

[sallytuppence]

I guess it's just another skill set.

Yeah. Refocusing is hard for me, too, though the kids and I have adapted pretty well (they're low maintenance, I'm somewhat patient). I bet it's way harder for you, as you're being thrown headfirst into a new situation!

Maybe I should save the rest of the comment on that for my 'writing and parenting' post.

[catrambo]

I've got my desk, but unfortunately, too much other stuff takes place here to make it a space where I can immediately focus. We live by a lake, so I'm looking forward to nicer weather and trying more writing down at the picnic table by the water this summer as well as out on the balcony. I use the archaic technology of a pen and notebook and then transcribe stuff at the desk, generally.

But I love writing with other people. I have two groups I do that with weekly - one meets in an odd mall on Sunday mornings, sitting there in the plastic food court furniture while the power walkers eddy around the edges, and the other in a somewhat generic Redmond coffee chain on Tuesday late mornings, where we jostle for space with the day-traders and power-techies. I like sitting with other people who are writing, there's something about it that gets me going.

But sometimes I need to be able to talk aloud while writing, which is problematic in coffee shops.