Do you have a writing place; a favourite corner, a quiet room? I do a lot of my short story writing in bed. In my pyjamas of course! What were you thinking?
I don’t go to bed intending to write but once there and daytime distractions are gone my mind drifts to story plots. I have a recorder at my bedside to preserve ideas but rarely use it. I’m a bit old fashioned; it’s allowed, I’m a grandmother after all. Instead I have my favourite notebook, a ruled, bound, hard cover sporting a sketch of Wellington Bear at a typewriter surrounded by screwed up paper. This is where I write my ideas; in pencil, it glides over the page better than pen. It doesn’t leak ink in the sheets either.
Just a few bullet points to come back to later and then settle down for a good night’s sleep. Sometimes it works that way but you know how it is, the notebook is open, the pencil is gliding over the paper, a seed of an idea is now a rush of inspiration and in what seems no time at all it’s 3am and the first draft of a short story is done. If it’s winter I’ve been lying on my stomach under the blankets while I write; I only ever notice the back ache when I’ve stopped.
Bed isn’t my favourite writing place; it’s just where I am when I get most of my ideas. I also like writing at the kitchen table, looking out onto our garden. Or on a summer’s day at the table outside in the gazebo by the pond. Or in our study, or in the waiting room at the doctor’s, or at the local library, or in front of the TV in the evening. I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that my favourite writing place is anywhere that I can write. I’d love to hear about yours and look forward to reading your comments.
