via I love reading and writing
Not having the perfect space to write is always one of our top excuses for not being able to write. I have experimented with many (I mean ‘many’) different layouts for writing. I have moved furniture around, tried the laptop on lap in bed, tried long hand then transferring to PC…
I now have access to a lovely room with a view to the river that I’m converting to a study. I did get some work done there before the baby arrived. Now, I’m kinda stuck to the bedroom. Having a wireless connection here helps, I guess. I’m longing to move out, though. The study is being dusted again, tables moved around, plans for the cork board are afoot. How does that help me write? Well, it makes me feel like a ’serious’ writer. I still write with my laptop on my lap on the bed, but I long to have a place of my own where I can pile up my notebooks, line up my pens by colour, hang a poster or two for inspiration.
I often look to the Guardian’s collection of writers rooms. Some are inspiring – all neat, tidy and motivating. Others are covered in paper, raucous collections of paraphernalia and dust. Both work.
I then remember Roald Dalh and his writing chair. He wrote on an old tattered chair with a board across the arms to support his paper. That’s it. I’ve seen (and sat in) the chair. Believe me, it’s pretty dingy and uninspiring. Yet, he wrote there. And wrote a lot.
I keep a postcard with a watercolour of the chair on my board for inspiration. It is a reminder to me that you can really write anywhere. I’ll think of this when I spend hours tidying up the study or dreaming about where to put my desk next.
Where do you write?
