I’m a creature of habit. I get up, work out, eat, sleep at pretty much the same time every day.
When it comes to writing, I’m comfortable in familiar habitat, which means if I’m not traveling for business or doing interviews out of the office, I write at the desk in my office. I’ve worked in coffee shops, cafes, airport waiting areas, hotel lobbies, convention press rooms, wire service bureaus, new-to-me newsroom cubicles, and more. But given the choice, I prefer what I know.
Today is the second theme day of the 2011 blogathon, where 200+ and bloggers participating are writing about their favorite writing spaces.
Here are my favorite places to write, including one that might surprise you:
1. My office. That’s it in the picture. It’s not much to speak of: a desk from Cost Plus, an ancient computer – a major upgrade is on my post-blogathon to-do list; phone, headset, desk lamp, pile of papers that’s a permanent fixture when I’m on deadline (which is most of the time); and scanner/printer/fax machine. In the past two years, I’ve painted the office a warm butterscotch that feels cozy during Oregon’s drab winters, added a couch, coffee table, lamps, chair, plants and art. A built-in bookshelf takes up an entire wall and is fulled with books. It’s my favorite writing space ever.
2. A hotel room. When J.K. Rowling was finishing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows she stayed in a hotel rom. I read somewhere that when Susan Straight, a Riverside,California, author of books like Blacker than a Thousand Midnights and Highwire Moon, is finishing a book, she checks herself into the Mission Inn. I know why. When you’ve got a husband, kids, carpools, dishes, laundry, dogs, yard, and on and on, it’s hard to carve out the uninterrupted time it takes to finish a lengthy piece of writing, and I have a hard enough time finishing a 3,000-word feature these days, let along anything longer. I rarely travel by myself but when I do it’s normally for work, and when I do, setting up my laptop in my hotel room is the ultimately luxury. I can wake up and write. I can come back to the room after a meeting and write. I can wake up in the middle of the night and write and not have to worry that I should be doing something else.
3. An airplane. My editor and friend Neil Chase jokes that airplanes are made for editors. For however long it takes to get where you’re going, you’re in one spot with nothing to do but work – and no way for anyone to interrupt you. It’s the perfect time to edit manuscripts because you can give them your undivided attention. Something about being on a plane inspires me to think big thoughts, so I find flying conducive to brainstorming, whether it’s coming up with story ideas, new markets to pitch or new directions for this blog. All this could change since airlines now offer in-flight WiFi, which lets you check email and use the internet from the air. But there’s a simple solution to that – don’t buy it.
4. My bed. I lug my laptop into bed to work every once in a while. But more often the writing I do there is the brainstorming variety – in long hand. This blog was conceived from notes I took in a cloth-covered journal four years ago, and until about two years ago, I still used it to jot down ideas for posts, story pitches, to do lists and the like. Most of that I do at a keyboard now. But I keep the journal in the top drawer of my nightstand should inspiration strike and the story lead that’s been eluding me all day pops into my head as I’m falling asleep.
5. The shower. Speaking of inspiration – you might not think of the shower as a good place to write. But it’s where I go when I need to stop actively thinking about work and let ideas bubble up from my subconscious. I don’t know how it happens, I just know it works. Jonah Lehrer, who wrote about inspiration in an article called “The Eureka Hunt,” in The New Yorker in 2008, talked to scientists who study the brain and they came to some of the same conclusions that people who work in creative fields know intuitively. If you walk away from a problem your brain continues tackling it and will come up with a solution when you least expect it. They also discovered that being relaxed helps the brain do its thing, and that the best time to work on creative endeavors is in the early morning when your mind is half-asleep but more open to new ideas than when you’re fully awake.
Where are your favorite places to write?
The shower is the perfect place to come up with ideas. So is a bike (if you’re riding it). And bed. I do come up with ideas just about the time I’m trying to fall asleep. But this is the thinking time that leads to writing. I spend a lot of time on this part of the work. It’s absolutely necessary. Love your office, but I’m afraid I’d want to be on that couch reading all those books. And how do you resist turning on that TV?
If I’d added a sixth place it would have been walking with my dog – neighborhood streets, on a dirt trail, it’s all the same. And I imagine on a bike, running or swimming would probably be similar. Get outside, breath some fresh air and work the tangles out.
I can thank my parents for a work ethic that included not turning the TV on during the day, it’s why I’ve never watched Oprah. Twitter, LinkedIn, et al, are distracting enough. But when work’s done, dinner’s over and the kids are in bed or doing homework, it is a great place to hunker down and watch TV.
Hi Michelle,
Love the color of your office.
I didn’t clean up when I took the picture of my 1st fav. place.
This will be fun to read everyone’s post about fav places.
Why clean up? I wanted to readers to see my in my natural state 🙂
Michelle
mmmn…butterscotch walls.
It’s Benjamin Moore paint and the actual name is Toasted Sesame. But butterscotch is a better description.
M
I write quite a bit when I’m out walking or running, too, both as a general practice and when I need to let go and just let ideas come up.
seeing the couch in your office, Michelle, reminded me of a friend is a Grammy winning songwriter — she has a couch in her office because when she gets stuck on wrestling with a song she often find taking a short nap will untie the knots and she’ll wake up knowing just how she wants the lyric to go.
That couch came in handy last week when I was battling the cold all of Portland seems to have. I slept a few times during the day for 15 or 20 minutes and woke up feeling like I could function for a couple more hours.
MVR
Your office is lovely. I also love writing in my home office, which I share with my husband. Many of my ideas come to me in the shower, too, and the other day I was wondering if there was some type of whiteboard I could get to keep in there. I always worry that the idea is going to slip away before I’m done with the suds! When I think of things in bed, I always have to fuddle around to find something to write on (usually a sticky note). Can’t believe I’ve never had the realization that I should have a lovely journal next to bed to capture my thoughts — thank you for the inspiration.
My office wasn’t always lovely. For years it had mauve walls and aqua carpet – holdovers from the previous owners – and a single armchair and ottoman that made it impossible for more than one person to hang out at a time. I found the couch at a designer sale last summer, added the coffee table later and pulled in everything else from other rooms in the house.
I’ve kept a journal in my nightstand for years. I got tired of having things come to me as I was falling asleep – leads, conclusions, the way to organize a story – and then having to get up and hunt for something to write them down on, or worse, promising myself I wouldn’t forget then falling asleep and waking up the next day without a clue about what I wanted to remember.
Michelle
Love your office, too – but what you wrote about the shower was my “eureka” moment! Bookmarked The New Yorker story – I have always been amazed that “Shower Ideas” are my best ideas. Also – whenever I am stuck on a problem – if I walk away from it, I always solve it. All this time I thought it was me being Trish … turns out it is science!
I know, writing this made me want to re-read that New Yorker story myself.
Michelle
Michelle, I love the inside view of your office, so inviting. Interesting that the shower seems to be such a creative spot for lots of people.
What a amazing wall bookshelf 🙂
I discovered the joy of writing in a hotel room just last week. I think it was the first time I’d ever been alone in one and it was bliss! I got so much done.
My other best place, besides my IKEA chair and the library, is on my bed, napping. Naps shuffle thoughts into coherent forms. I’ve always said I do my best work while napping.
Love your office!
Naps are highly underrated.
Michelle
I usually write from my couch, with a laptop on my lap, looking out my huge front window … across the street is a river, and beyond that the train. I love listening to the trains coming and going … sometimes they sound so lonely. I find great inspiration on my daily walks (take an index card and pen with you!).
It’s really surprised me how many people write while sitting on the couch. It works for them, but I’d never be able to do it – I need the structure of sitting at a desk, and the surface to spread out papers, phone, etc.
Michelle
I love your office Michelle!! I agree with you that feeling good in your space is really important. Another huge difference between working at home and working in a cubicle: I love my office! Just the right mix of light and background noise without being distracting, and I can leave the radio on in the kitchen for a little sound that doesn’t keep me from working. I also agree that for some reason, working in bed does not feel like working. If I’m in my office at night, I feel really cranky, like I am “working late.” But if I take my laptop and my cat and work on my laptop in bed while my daughter is doing her homework or my husband is reading, it feels like a little break!
Thanks Corinne. I love my office too, though it’s not quite finished. I want an inspiration board on the wall behind my computer. I envision an over-sized message board – 3′ x 4′ maybe – covered in fabric and framed like artwork that I can use to tack up notes and outlines, postcards from my postcard collection, photos, etc. I got the idea when I went to a Norman Rockwell exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery last summer and saw a photograph of his workspace with just such an inspiration wall. Maybe I’ll have it finished by the 2012 blogathon!
Michelle