Tuesday, June 12, 2007

"How I Write"

I found this one recently at the library and while it's not particularly awe-inspiring, and I know virtually none of the authors featured, it is an interesting perusal. It reminds me of times when Jenny gets going with questions. Her stand-by is "What are you reading?" which goes around in a circle until everyone's answered, but she's asked just about everything.


This book is like sitting at a table in Red Robin (where our post-writing group meeting dinners take place) and listening to a Jenny-question go 'round. The fun part is how many of the authors name tea/coffee or cigarettes as a necessary part of being able to write. Even more fun, though, is the other, more odd-ball necessities - like a maglite, a big desk, or photos of strangers.

In the spirit of a Jenny-question, I'll offer my necessities and encourage anyone reading this to post a comment about theirs. For me, my main necessity is background noise. Whether I'm writing longhand in one of my notebooks or typing on my computer, I want to have some kind of noise. The radio is good, or the TV sometimes.

Writing in my notebook opens up even more opportunities. When I worked in the kitchen at the bar, I liked to write at work after I clocked out. I could sip a cocktail, and have lots of background chatter and jukebox music. Of course, since I would be sitting at the bar writing, there were always people who assumed that meant I wanted to have a conversation with them. Jenny used to give me a hard time when we had a class together and she'd look over and see me writing and writing, then she'd look closer and see that I wasn't writing notes. Boring classes are a great incentive to write.

3 comments:

Minion GIR said...

When I'm struggling with my writing, I prefer instrumental music playing in the background and as few potential distractions as possible. If the music has words, I'll stop and sing along.

I don't require much of anything when I'm in the groove. At that point, all the background stuff falls away. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen as often as I'd like.

Camille said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Camille said...

I don't need anything but something to write on and something to write with. Of course, I'm not much of a writer, either. :)