Yesterday I just couldn’t write. The children were rattling around the house, it was hot and sticky, and I was tired and sleepy. I spent the morning at the UNESCO City of Literature launch – Dublin is the 4th City of Literature, along with Iowa, Melbourne and Edinburgh, how cool is that – and intended to come home and get my daily word count done. But it just didn’t happen.
So today I was determined to sit at my desk and write, no matter what. But with the distraction of children coming in and out every few minutes I decided I’d had enough. This morning I moved a small chest of drawers out of my bedroom and then moved my desk and chair into the space, just beside the window. Then I sat down. It didn’t feel quite right so I moved my desk again, bang in front of the window. A little bird – a starling I think, sharp beak, sparkling black eyes – settled on my window sill, making me smile.
And the other great thing about working upstairs is the internet doesn’t work up there. So I’m not tempted onto Facebook or any of my favourite blogs or websites. I don’t spend ages ‘researching’ a small fact that I could easily look up later and not in the middle of my precious writing time.
So that’s where I wrote today, in my bedroom, 2,382 words of my new book, The Shoestring Club. And it felt good. I’ve been having trouble getting into this one as the Amy Green books are so fresh and alive in my head after just writing two in a row, but today the words just flew. So not only did I find a new, quiet writing space, I also found enough head space and a new impetus to empty my thoughts and ideas onto the page.
Maybe a move will also work for you. Is there a corner somewhere in the house that might take a small desk? Have you ever tried writing in the car – believe me, with a laptop, it’s quite do-able! I’ve been that soldier many a time when my children are having an extra noisy day but I still need to be around.
Writing is a funny old thing, sometimes it just takes something as simple as moving to get the creative juices flowing again.
Yours in writing,
Sarah X