This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
I admit it. My writing room is not a room. It's an egg-shaped, hanging wicker seat at the bottom of the garden, positioned so it catches the last gasps of the day's sun.
Heaped with cushions, it sways slightly when I clamber in. I'm not an elegant woman and nobody ever witnesses this manoeuvre; it wouldn't be fair to either party. Settling down to write can take a while. I fidget and harrumph, punching cushions and balancing my laptop, until optimum comfiness has been achieved.
Tip tap tappity tap. My fingers fly o'er the keyboard. Or not … there's a lot to distract you in a garden. I might notice that the hydrangea looks a bit hung over, or the birdseed needs topping up. For a writer with a deadline (i.e. all writers) the small green rectangle is full of handy displacement activities. I can't tell you how long I've spent planning a birdbath when I'm a thousand words away from typing 'The End'. I watch butterflies as if I'm David bleedin' Attenborough and I stare down the Woodpigeon who persistently poos modern art squiggles on the back step.
However, when the muse finally gets me in a headlock, the womb-like seat is a marvellous place to spin stories. The weightless sway of the chair feels other-worldly, as if I'm far removed from mundane matters.Wasps, however, don't respect this reverie. The stripy little gits love to make me jump by buzzing by my ear. My two assistants (pictured) do their bit to disrupt my mojo by asking to (a) get up into the chair, (b) get down from the chair, (c) get back up into the chair and so on until the end of recorded time. They also like to lay their snouts across the keyboard and they break wind violently during sex scenes. All in all, I could do without their help.
A Very Big House in the Country is a summery book, the literary equivalent of strawberries and lollies and ice cold sauvignon blanc but, alas, I didn't write it in my hanging chair. I wrote it in winter, indoors, sustained by Cup-a-Soups and stew.
A Very Big House in the Country by Claire Sandy is out now.