Where do you do it?

In the last six months or so I have committed to this writing business. Plugging away on my laptop or scribbling away on one of my numerous notepads. It made me think about where I write and where other people write. Even if it’s just planning and writing your blog posts (If you can write your posts on the fly, then I salute you!)

When I’m procrastinating and lost in the swirling hell dimension that is Pinterest, I look at my dream writing spaces. (I have an entire Board for them, feel free to go and Pin some.)  In theory I love a minimalist desk in front of an amazing view, maybe there’s a hanging plant draped over the desk, suspended in a copper and glass pot. Or it’s a little nook surrounded by books with an overstuffed chair and ornate desk. A Tiffany lamp illuminating beautiful stationary.

But does anyone actually get any writing done on these things?

1. Where’s the power point for my laptop?
2. When I water the plant it’s going to leak all over the previously mentioned laptop
3. I would forever be cleaning it so as to not mess up the minimalist style. So no writing done there.

At home I write on the dining room table. I’m next to the kitchen for important writing nourishment, which is usually hot tea and occasionally some Tim Tams. (Okay, always Tim Tams!) I have a power point for my laptop and plenty of space to layout my scribble – I mean research *cough*, because it seats 10 people comfortably. I basically sit at a table straight out of Game of Thrones. I have good lighting, well not at the moment because the lights keep on flickering – maybe we have a ghost. That would be exciting! Anyway, good lighting – mostly and a comfortable chair. This is where I write after Miss 2 has gone to bed and I can get a solid two hours before I face plant on the keyboard.

I write on the train to and from work. Sydney trains are actually a pretty good place to write. Mostly quiet, I sometimes play classical music if it’s a bit rowdy, the journey is pretty steady and if I pop my hand bag on my lap, it is exactly the right height to scribble in my notepad. The same flickering lights make it feel homey.

I write during lunch (when I can get away)  in a small library near Chinatown. It’s on the second story of a beautiful old sandstone building. It has single desks, power points and mismatched chairs scattered around. I sit in front of a window that looks onto a big tree and all I see is light filtering through the leaves. It’s a pretty special place to write. It’s also solid writing time, because no phones in the library.

I do dream about spending a weekend holed up in a hotel room just writing. I would wear my pajamas and become a hermit for 48 hours. It wouldn’t even need to be far, just around the corner from home would do. As long as it had a desk and Wi-Fi, I would be all set – oh, and room service. It just seems so indulgent. So family take note – my birthday is 6 months away!

In the Sydney CBD we have the State Library. It’s a huge building that has a reverence about it when you walk in. I’ve only been inside on my lunch break and it’s like you can feel the creative juices flowing as soon as you step inside. It’s almost as if the other books are calling to you, whispering encouragement. I know if I take a day and spend it in there, then I would be guaranteed to accomplish something.

So where do you write? It can be anywhere. Also, where do you want to write? The weirder the better?

I actually would love to write on a yacht, out in the middle of a bay, with literally no one else around. I read somewhere that Virginia Woolf would write in a storage room in her basement, sitting  in a comfortable armchair with her paper and pen.

Come on over and friend me on Facebook at Lisa Lancaster.
Come and do some pinning on Pinterest

Gif from Giphy
Photo from Pinterest
Photo from City of Sydney
Photo from State Library of NSW