I am writing for myself and strangers. This is the only way that I can do it... Gertrude Stein

10/01/2004

Where Do You Write?

During the course of the day and many emails, it has been pointed out to me (by Liza) that cleaning, painting, and taking over the studio attached to my house might be a lot cheaper than grad school, and might actually get my butt writing.

Virginia Woolf says that it is essential for writers to have a space, a room, of their own in order to be able to write.

Arguably, I have an office, but in it, I am expected to work.

I have two computers at home (not counting my laptop, which never gets used unless I travel). One was in the studio, but nobody ever went out there to use it. So, we moved it into the kitchen, and now everybody uses it. I use it, Dereck uses it, Christian uses it. Sam prefers the one in our bedroom (our= Dereck's and mine) because it is faster for Age of Empires. Tommy hasn't used the computer for awhile-- can you see why? It's always occupied. And when we aren't using it, Boone, the world's cutest orange cat, is sitting in the chair in front of the computer.

And it is rare that someone is using the computer without four other people trying to talk to the computer user at the same time.

So, the studio.

Ugh, where do I begin.

The dog has now taken over the studio. (A heated kennel in the back yard-- also cheaper than grad school).

It does sound fun to paint and decorate the studio, turn it into a real space. I am thinking I would have to, and have to put a coffeemaker and little fridge out there in order to make it a space that I will really and truly and honestly, not just saying so, no fingers crossed behind my back, use, because honestly, when the computer was out there before, I did not use it.

And I am not going to move the computer from the kitchen, or from the bedroom. We like them there. I will either use a pen, my laptop, the computer under Sam's desk which sucks for internet but might be okay as a word processor, or find my old typewriter from the Salvation Army. I used it to type almost all of my poems back in the day, and maybe that's the secret.

But anyway, it got me to thinking, fellow bloggers: what is your writing space like? From where are you typing?