Because I love to talk, I’m going to share little audio notes on thoughts and processes I have while working. This one is a reflection on where I write. There’s also a transcript below. Hope hearing a friendly Northern voice helps you find some space to write!
Transcript
So I'm currently at home in my little home office. I live in rural Northumberland and our spare room is essentially my desk, which is enormous and my poor husband's desk squeezed into a corner with all of his photography equipment. And having this space to work from is brilliant, but because I do a lot of work from here, it's not really where my writing tends to happen.
So when it comes to editing, when I've got to organise things, when I've got to do sort out submissions, it’s fine. I can sit down at my desk, I've got two screens, I've got my big screen and my laptop. I've got all my little knick knacks around me. I've got my noticeboard with inspirational quotes and all of that kind of thing and that works. So this is where I get work done, where I plan workshops, where I write newsletters, where I apply for work. But it isn't where most of my writing tends to happen, and I've been finding that actually really challenging lately. I'm at home a lot. I haven't got a lot of work on at the moment. I'm a bit limited because of an injury and because of bus strikes and lots and lots of different reasons. So I'm finding myself twiddling my thumbs at home a lot and really not getting any writing done. I think I thought that being at home with loads of time and space would be the time when I would get lots done. But you know what? It isn't working like that at all and to accept that's been really difficult.
I think you know, I feel really lucky to have this space that I can work from to, you know, have my own room, my own writing room, a room of one's own that so many of us wish we had. You know, I'm not fitting it in at the dining table or underneath my desk at work. But it's not working for me and I'm starting to accept that and think about what it is I need to write and I realise what I need to write is to be out in different places around different people and even just going down the local library for an hour or two, I can get more writing done in a space like that, more idea generation done than I could have if I spent my whole day at my desk and I think I've done a lot of that lately. A lot of sitting at my desk in front of my computer for the full day, thinking this is what I need to do. I'm a writer. I should be writing here and it not really working and I've wasted that time really because I felt like I think that's just what I should be doing. I've got this space I should be writing here.
And now I've realised that that's just not the case. It's just not the right thing to do just because I've got this space and this desk doesn’t mean I always have to sit in this space. So last week I took myself down Hexham, which is close to where I live and I did a few jobs. I managed to get a bus and it was a skeleton bus service so it was a coach company bus and queue lots of travel sickness. But once I got down to Hexham I parked up in my local library, just for an hour and you just listen to everybody. There's all those little noises that are happening, you know, the children's book sections there so there was a baby crying and it's also a Council hub so there was a woman having a very, very private, in-depth conversation, extremely loudly. So I heard all of that. And then you've got people on the phone, people hot desking people chewing, slurping, moving around and people returning books and all of those things are sort of background noise, they form, they just do something to create an atmosphere that makes it easier to work and easier for ideas to flow. You feel like you're not completely on your own, essentially, and in that hour or two I just, well I didn't write thousands and thousands of words. I worked through some sticky points I worked through some ideas and for me, that's what getting away from the desk is doing.
One of the things I think we quite often do is think we have to isolate ourselves and sit on our own and just work and the words will come. And when they don't will blame ourselves. Well, really, it's not our fault if the environment's not right, it's not right. And if the time isn't right, it isn't right. There are some writers, I know Stephen King who says he goes to his desk and writes from 9:00 till 6 and that's great. And some people work like that, but we don't all work like that and I've found that the way I work is in really short bursts. So I think a lot. And anyone who's been in one of my workshops or sessions will know that I love thinking. And I love talking about thinking and writing adjacent activities, and that's what I'm starting to do now. So I'm giving myself this space at home to think. To formulate ideas. So when I do get some space, I can sit down and get all of that out.
So for you, it's just about thinking about what works for you in the moment and what might work at different times. Really, the reason I'm sharing this is because I think it's really easy to blame ourselves and I want you to think about what works for you, what sort of time you've got, what sort of space you've got, and to be really gentle with yourself when you're working, you don't need to produce thousands of words in the session. You might just need to get the name of a character sorted out, or a plot point, or a title, or be brave enough to send something off for submission for the first time or, you know, borrow a big pile of books that are linked to what you're working on, from the library and start working on those. So wherever you're at, whatever you do and wherever you're physically working, stop and have a look around. And if it isn't working, maybe think about one other place you could try to write. You could go to a cafe, maybe take a long trip on the bus all the way around from start to finish, but just have a think if you're stuck and your space isn't working, you can write in any space. You don't have to be chained to a desk, you don't have to be chained to anything and you can write in bed. You can do whatever you want. It's up to you.