Bright and sunny, that's what I need to write. In San Francisco, where fog is the rule rather than the exception, bright and sunny can be hard to find. I improvise for my muse by surrounding myself with lamps.
My little writing nook is tucked into the dormer windows in my apartment living room. Unfortunately, from my desk I can see the TV out of the corner of my eye so the temptation is there to turn on the TV. If I had more space in my apartment I would rearrange so I wasn't tempted. Since I don't have more space I just have to learn to overcome temptation -- its been good for development of my willpower.
My advice to beginning writers is to figure out what kind of environment works best to get you in the mood for writing. You aren't always going to be able to find it or improvise it, but its good to know what it is for those times (like during NaNoWriMo) when that extra oomph can mean writing that day or not writing at all.
In a previous post I also talked about how writing in different environments can directly influence your writing. Sometimes that influence is good and sometimes its bad, but you'll never know unless you get out of your writing space comfort zone from time to time.
Okay, no more blog-o-crastination for me. I have to get back to some short story editing.
I think blogcrastination should be a word - you should trademark that quickly! :-)d
Posted by: underdog | January 23, 2008 at 12:30 AM