Writing in the garden

Good morning and I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s Holiday Projects day on Book Week – reviews of a home style book and a cookery book and a very useful round-up of some gardening with children books.

Today is our writing day and it is mostly themed around where writers like to write. We have four guest posts, two from Emily Carlisle (who is working on her first novel), one from Crystal Jigsaw (who is top of the Tots100 – congratulations – and has self-published her paranormal romance novel) and one from Adam Horovitz (whose first volume of poetry was published this week).

My writing spaces

As some of you will know I spend a lot of time dreaming about writing and not enough time actually writing. I have lots of excuses – working long hours, having two children, occasionally doing a bit of housework – but I’m very well aware that these are just excuses and that I could find the time if I really tried (after all, I’ve managed to find a couple of hours a day this week to put together the blog posts – and links, I do wish the links would just sort themselves out, instead of expecting me to nurture them – for Book Week).

When I’m doing well, I can write anywhere. I carry a notebook round with me most places – a teeny one in my small handbag, though sometimes I have to just manage with Post-its; a big floral one for my big handbags – and if I’m going to have time alone I’ll pack the netbook (now that it has a long-life battery that last hours and hours instead of ten minutes). I’ve scribbled (usually fairly random) scenes down in the school playground, on buses, on trains, in cafes, on park benches, in railway stations…

I prefer writing on the netbook and these days like to use Scrivener, which is finally available for Windows, but will also happily scribble in Open Office or Notepad. I cannot write at my desk – I can blog at my desk (I am doing so now), but creative writing is impossible here. I like to write in bed, or curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea. If I’m writing at home, I usually need to be alone, though I did go through a phase of sribbling notes down in my notepad, while Eleanor was playing in the early mornings. I should try that again, really. I can’t write in the same room as Chris, because I have this ridiculous fear of someone reading my writing before I’m ready for it to be read. Clearly this is a rather unsustainable attitude if I expect to ever get published. But, you know what, I’ll work on that later. Finishing one novel would be a good first step.

But my best places for writing are cafes and trains. I love the noise and being able to eavesdrop on conversations and put my characters inside those conversations or take snippets of the conversations and turn them into scenes. You would think it would be too much of a distraction to have so much going on around you, but it’s actually very comforting and helps with the flow of the writing and the rhythm.

Trains are perhaps the best, though, because you have your own space, that you can keep for a long period without a waiter trying to subtly (or not) clear away your empty cup and plate and guilt you into buying something else or moving on. You have your own space but are surrounded by a real mix of humanity, from business people making deals on their phones, to grandmothers travelling to see their grandchildren, from parents dealing with factitious toddlers to university students taking their washing home. On a train, you are never short of inspiration.

I think I might need to get a season ticket.

Come back throughout the day for the rest of todays writing posts.