Monday, July 2, 2007

Writing Outside

"Early Saturday morning I went out and cut it into manageable chunks to get it out of the way. While I sawed and sweated and cursed a little bit, I thought about the next scene in HM."
-D.B.

Speaking of writing at a coffee shop, I want to talk a little about process. Everyone does the writing thing in their own way - whether long hand or typing, in a home office or diner (that one's David's). So, I'm going to pose a blog question. Where and how do most like to write?

For me, it seems like I'm at my most productive when I'm not home. At the house there are so many things to distract me, but when I'm at, say a coffee shop, my distractions are limited. Ditto this for lecture - I remember more than a few times sitting next to Jenny in a class and having her look over at my notebook and later give me a hard time about writing a short story, or a new bit of Oracle while I should've been taking notes. Then again, when I make myself sit in front of the computer to write, and only write - not play Solitaire, I can usually put out a decent number of pages.

I guess the truth is, that for me, it depends on the mood I'm in. Notebook writing is when I'm feeling like playing around. Computer writing is when I want to accomplish something. Process vs. product, it seems.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Minion GIR said...

I actually prefer writing at home, but it's so difficult when other people are around. Next best thing is a coffee shop. It's a Grind works well because it's busy but not overcrowded and I tend to like the music they play. And the snickerdoodles are awesome.