This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
I write in a small study on the back of the house. The study is almost wholly glass; it has a glass roof and one glass wall looking onto our garden, which my husband has turned into a small glade of trees, lawn and flowers. However I usually have the blinds closed, because it does get very hot! This means I usually start to write quite early in the morning, because after about 3 pm it is unbearable.
I like to start writing at about 7 am. I always make myself a cup of tea, or take up a huge pot of tea more often. I am always dressed; I don't want to write in pyjamas, because I don't want to break off to get dressed. I don't have music, but I don't need monastic silence. I simply turn on my computer and start writing.
Having been a journalist for around 25 years I never get writer's block, and I write very fast. Of course, I edit like mad so I do chop things out after I have written them, which is strangely satisfying. However I try to keep going, because I have found that action is far more creative than inaction. It works for me.
I don't tidy anything up, or organise my desk before I start writing because it is always tidy and organised. I can't write on a messy desk so I try to always keep it uncluttered. My desk is a pine drop-leaf writing desk from about 1770, and was a gift to me from my father on my 15th birthday. I have revised for my Olevels and Alevels on it, and have written two books of non-fiction, and a novel on it as well as thousands of articles, features, blogs and columns. This is not to say that I can't write anywhere else. As long as I have the necessary tools, I will write anywhere. I wrote some of my novel in a room adjoining a Scout Hut during Cub meetings for my son, and I have written entire articles for national papers in places ranging from a Mexican car ferry to a moving tube train (District Line).The Square by Rosie Millard is out now.