Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol’ pen and paper?
My absolute favorite place to write is in coffee shops, though I don’t get to do this as often as I’d like. The grinding of the espresso machines and background chatter sends me into a zone where I can lose track of time writing.
I’m a night person so the ideal writing time for me is night/early morning when my third wind has kicked in. Since work life makes vampire hours not the best choice, I find myself writing at a variety of different times. Early morning is harder because my brain doesn’t snap completely awake until later in the morning.
On Jon’s blog, he had the cool idea to do a hand written post. That idea took me back to the high school and college memories of composition books, spiral notebooks and bookstore-bound journals filled with my poems and stories. That’s what writers did – we wandered around with pen and paper in our bags, at the ready for when a moment or idea struck and needed to be recorded. I thought nothing of writing page after page by hand. I could cross out passages or circle and arrow mark others to be moved. Write in the margins. I had a habit of rewriting favorite song lyrics or poems on the inside front and back covers (Emily Dickenson’s Parting and Prince’s The Cross are two I remember using).
I’m not sure if my writing flows better with a pen in hand or fingers on my keyboard. I carry around a mini-journal in my purse and other notebooks in my writing bag. When an idea strikes, that is what I reach for to record it. Yet my laptop is what I now perch at when actually writing. It could be a matter of convenience – I type faster than I write longhand. Typing first also alleviates having to decipher pages of my chicken scrawl later. Editing while writing is also quicker and easier with technology.
Barbara McDowell 