January posting meme: when and how of writing
I'm starting this out with Adorable Cat Tricks: we have learned in recent days that Lancelot is not a morning kitty. He's been sleeping on our bed, and every morning now, when one of us gets up, he moves into a spot between the remaining person and the edge of the bed, as if to say no way, not you too, you are staying here. And he doesn't come downstairs until we're both up, and even then he's not very hungry (I won't go so far as to say he wants his coffee first, but a few bites of food is enough). And although Hotspurr is now sleeping in his favorite Ikea chair downstairs, I suspect so that he's closer to the food he worships, he doesn't come up and wake us just so we can feed him. As Gobi used to do the second either of us turned over or breathed loudly at any point past 4 a.m., with loud meowing and chewing on the bed and being thoroughly annoying.
I say this in affectionate reminiscence, of course. I plan to dedicate Time and Fevers to Gobi, because there are cats in it (my betas wince slightly here) and he helped me write it, and because the first answer to today's question from
wendylove - when and how I write - is, I write with cats.
But, to be more specific. I've been lucky enough to have time to write, and a varying but flexible schedule, so "when" is usually "as it fits in" but with reasonable regularity. I don't usually have a problem with settling down to writing, though sometimes I have periods when I just can't, and then there is never any lack of something else to do. Among the many bits of writerly advice that make me growl is the paternalistic privileged nonsense of "writers write." Well, actually, writers want to write, but sometimes a writer has stuff people are asking her to do without regard to her set-aside writing time, or sick kids, or migraines that go on for days, or depressive spirals (oddly I can write through these unless they get really bad, but plenty of other people can't), or jobs with unpredictable hours, etc. etc. I have never been able to say "I will write every day from 7 to 11 am" or "Tuesdays and Thursdays" or anything like that, because nothing's that regular in my life. But I want to do it, and it gets done.
It would be interesting to track whether the stuff I produce at 3 a.m. (after waking up, not staying up) is different than at 3 p.m., and so forth, but it's not like I'd ever make a note of that. I do know that most of Not Time's Fool was written while I was having unpleasantly regular insomnia, which is probably why there are so many scenes in it set at night and "Nessun Dorma" figures prominently.
I'm assuming the "how" part of the question refers to physical things more than mental, so: on a laptop, at least for the last eight or nine years; I can't write longhand and produce anything worthwhile. I don't have a desk (so any *headdesk*s are to be taken figuratively) and these days I usually write while sitting on a loveseat in the living room with my feet up (plenty of room for cats). I should undertake some method to do more work while standing up (don't think a treadmill desk will fit either in the house or in the budget, but even a surface at the right height for being upright would be good for my back and my waistline) or on an exercise ball. I should also get up and stretch and walk around more often. (Sometimes I keep a suggestive yoga mat on the floor nearby.) I certainly don't require complete silence to write in (is there such a thing?) but any noise with words in it will distract me to the point where I can't think. This includes music, and I don't usually write to music without words either, though there have been exceptions (particular scenes that need the rhythm or harmony or counterpoint provided therein). I have written in coffee shops on occasion, and behind the desk of a yoga studio, and in hotel rooms (including in a large closet so as not to disturb others with light), and in parks (mostly editing in parks. Editing is a whole other subject). Et cetera. Flexibility is all.
I'm trying to snack less while I write. Tea is good, though I am terribly inclined to forget that it's steeping and end up with something lukewarm and bitter, which is probably not what I want the words on the page to be either. Sometimes booze is good too, in very small amounts. No Hemingways here.
Probably I have forgotten things I should add? But that's enough to be going on with.
This entry was originally posted at http://hedda62.dreamwidth.org/76206.html. There are currently
comments there. Comment here or there.
I say this in affectionate reminiscence, of course. I plan to dedicate Time and Fevers to Gobi, because there are cats in it (my betas wince slightly here) and he helped me write it, and because the first answer to today's question from
wendylove - when and how I write - is, I write with cats.
But, to be more specific. I've been lucky enough to have time to write, and a varying but flexible schedule, so "when" is usually "as it fits in" but with reasonable regularity. I don't usually have a problem with settling down to writing, though sometimes I have periods when I just can't, and then there is never any lack of something else to do. Among the many bits of writerly advice that make me growl is the paternalistic privileged nonsense of "writers write." Well, actually, writers want to write, but sometimes a writer has stuff people are asking her to do without regard to her set-aside writing time, or sick kids, or migraines that go on for days, or depressive spirals (oddly I can write through these unless they get really bad, but plenty of other people can't), or jobs with unpredictable hours, etc. etc. I have never been able to say "I will write every day from 7 to 11 am" or "Tuesdays and Thursdays" or anything like that, because nothing's that regular in my life. But I want to do it, and it gets done.
It would be interesting to track whether the stuff I produce at 3 a.m. (after waking up, not staying up) is different than at 3 p.m., and so forth, but it's not like I'd ever make a note of that. I do know that most of Not Time's Fool was written while I was having unpleasantly regular insomnia, which is probably why there are so many scenes in it set at night and "Nessun Dorma" figures prominently.
I'm assuming the "how" part of the question refers to physical things more than mental, so: on a laptop, at least for the last eight or nine years; I can't write longhand and produce anything worthwhile. I don't have a desk (so any *headdesk*s are to be taken figuratively) and these days I usually write while sitting on a loveseat in the living room with my feet up (plenty of room for cats). I should undertake some method to do more work while standing up (don't think a treadmill desk will fit either in the house or in the budget, but even a surface at the right height for being upright would be good for my back and my waistline) or on an exercise ball. I should also get up and stretch and walk around more often. (Sometimes I keep a suggestive yoga mat on the floor nearby.) I certainly don't require complete silence to write in (is there such a thing?) but any noise with words in it will distract me to the point where I can't think. This includes music, and I don't usually write to music without words either, though there have been exceptions (particular scenes that need the rhythm or harmony or counterpoint provided therein). I have written in coffee shops on occasion, and behind the desk of a yoga studio, and in hotel rooms (including in a large closet so as not to disturb others with light), and in parks (mostly editing in parks. Editing is a whole other subject). Et cetera. Flexibility is all.
I'm trying to snack less while I write. Tea is good, though I am terribly inclined to forget that it's steeping and end up with something lukewarm and bitter, which is probably not what I want the words on the page to be either. Sometimes booze is good too, in very small amounts. No Hemingways here.
Probably I have forgotten things I should add? But that's enough to be going on with.
This entry was originally posted at http://hedda62.dreamwidth.org/76206.html. There are currently
comments there. Comment here or there.