This was a point of heated discussion last year in my writing group. Some people felt they just had to get out of the house! Others said they commandeered sections of their home and forbade any family intrusions.
When Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West, he rose early in the morning and typed in a standing position for a few hours in a room above his pool. It was his space and he insisted on complete privacy. He had the money and the house space to demand and create a unique writing environment that worked for him.
I knew another writer that abandoned his family and disappeared into the Vermont countryside as his deadlines approached. He needed to get away from family, friends and telephones to complete his deadline projects.
If you feel you’re a real member of the literati and a traveler, try Shakespeare & Company, an independent bookstore in the Left Bank of Paris. It’s named for the original bookstore owned by Sylvia Beach in the days of the “Lost Generation” gang (Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and others) that lived in the city at the time. The original bookstore closed in 1941, as did a second version after World War II. Today’s incarnation of the famed bookstore includes some writing tables and cots. Struggling writers (called “tumbleweeds”) earn a place to sleep by working in the shop a few hours a day. If nothing else, go and get a kick out of saying you scribbled a few lines in the place. Maybe the ghosts of Hemingway, Pound, Stein and Fitzgerald are hanging around!
Then there are the rest of us.
One woman I know swears by a local coffee shop. I tried the place once and hated it. There was too much noise, the tables were uncomfortable and people kept asking me if the WiFi worked. I knocked out three crummy paragraphs and abandoned the joint. I didn’t even like the coffee!
I tried the public library and found that to be a mixed bag, too. One area library believes in the open air concept, lots of tables and chairs and no walled off areas. As I tried to drill down on some dialogue, all I could hear was the conversation between some college-bound teenager and a volunteer counselor telling him about his 30-plus year old university experience and how campuses have changed. Nope, I had to abandon that place, too.
Another area library was rumored to be quieter. Off I went. I discovered laptop stations were down in the basement in dimly lit areas. Yes, it was quiet, but I felt as if I was trapped in a mine. Gotta go!
Ultimately I discovered that I need more than one place to write. It has to be quiet and it has to be mine, an area I can control. Home is best for me, especially early in the morning or late at night. The phone rarely rings and the rest of the house is asleep. I like that.
Where else do I go? Never mind, if I told you it would cease to be private. Writing, after all, is a solitary pursuit. I go to my hide away for the solitude, not for comradeship with others.
So, where’s your favorite place? Do you need the clamor of a coffee shop? Immediate access to library books? The solitude of a private spot?
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Whoops – forgot to mention that I did put a link to your blog on my blog’s page (One Minnesota Writer at http://oneminnesotawriter.blogspot.com) – we complement each other!
Hello – After seeing your comment on my blog’s post about the oddest places one has written in lately, I clearly had to come and visit this post. Writers always seemed to be fascinated by other writers’ writing spaces and I think that, because it is indeed a solitary pursuit, this is one way we find community with each other.
I have a designated room in my house – the tiniest bedroom has been turned into my office and it has a nice window, which is important to me – but I still find myself seeking out other spots when no one else is home and I am free to wander around. These are the spots where I do first drafts or maybe a little Internet research. And inspiration can strike anywhere, so I usually have some scrap of paper I can write on in my purse or in my car. But my office works best for the serious work of revision because I can spread out notes and books as needed, walk away when I need to and know they will be undisturbed.
I agree with you on the need for more than one place…it’s nice to have a change of scenery to keep our creative thoughts moving.
Kathleen
Kathleen –
Thanks for linking my blog to yours. I have done the same on my end.
I send out email notices when I update my blog and have added your email to the list.
This way we can learn about each other’s progress!
john
Sounds like a nice fit. Looking forward to our future exchanges!
Kathleen
Sometimes space is the answer, Umberta. We all have our needs! And we need what we need.
jjgilmore
I need space. I realized it reading this post, because something was disturbing me but I couldn’t understand what it was.
I need space: room for books and other study material (since I write or copy edit non-fiction writings) but above this I need space around, especially before my eyes.
In summer I have such a space but in winter it becomes a sanctuary for my mother’s lemons and it is cold, too. So I have to retire to my room, where I used to work face to face with the wall. Just reading you, I realized what was disturbing me these last days: the wall.
So I changed my desk position and am quite satisfied with the new arrangement.
When I have a wide space, I don’t particularly need silence, except sometimes. When I don’t have such a space, I become more sensitive to noise.
Thank you and best wishes,
Umberta