Request - Creating the Environment to Write... Part 3

If you've been following this, we're on Part 3 of questions I was asked about my writing environment.  

Here's Part 1 and it goes from there...

(Buddy Holly, my fall writing partner)

Where do you write --


Away from clutter? Lose yourself in a coffee house?  You get the picture.


****I write in two places-- my writing shed (aka Poetry Barn - (still in need of a new formal name as it is my true writing studio))  and inside in our home-office, which also is part art room.


I prefer my writing shed because it is 


1) less noisy
2) has less disruptions
3) is more tidy
4) was built for the purpose of being my writing studio.


Though sometimes I start writing downstairs in my home-office and do not leave even while being distracted by cats and interrupted again (all with loving kindness) by my husband who is also like a cat in that same way he'll just come in when I'm working, sit down and start meowing...I mean, talking.


When I write inside I keep a note on my bulletin board (inspired by Tatyana Mishel who gave it to me) that reads: 
Time is on my side- Interruptions included.


I needed to put this up because I was getting a knot in my stomach every time someone interrupted me.  


What I now realize is that unless I tell my family that I am writing and not to disturb me for a bit, I will be disturbed.


Or I need to write in my shed.  It's one of the other.


If you have a family, you have interruptions and distractions.
If you have cats, you also have interruptions and distractions.


For me, it's best to write without any distractions.  I've always been easily distracted (you should hear me tell a story as it usually begins, "Oh, I've meaning to tell about this book I've been reading that deals with--EAGLE!  Look up, there's an eagle!... [quiet]--what was I talking about?")


I also love being away from clutter, but I also know if there's a lot of clutter, I'm usually lost in my work.  I clean up my desk about once every two weeks just to keep things organized.


For a while I wrote in coffeeshops and loved that.  There was one that had this delicious chai tea and terrible metal chairs.  I would write more from 9:30 am-noon than I did at home because there was nothing else to do there. And the chairs were so uncomfy.


I recommend coffeeshops and know that January O'Neill is a big fan of "Starbucking."  


But now, most of my writing happens in my shed either late at night or when my daughter is at school.  I can disappear there.  No one finds me. There is no phone.  People knock on my front door and because I'm hidden away, I do not have to answer it.  My golden retriever can write with me there as well.


It's absolutely perfect and I'm getting excited for fall because that is really when my writing life begins again.




Part 4 of Creating the Environment to Write coming soon!

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