This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
My writing space changes, shifts, and twists depending on my mood and the weather. I have enclosed a photo of my backyard which I am currently working in as much as possible as it has FINALLY stopped raining here in Oregon and I like to be outside.
I love writing when our two hummingbirds fly through. I love watching the geese overhead, the blue jays and looking at my flowers. Nature helps when my characters are being obstinate and the plot is all a tangled mess in my confused mind.
Sometimes I write at my dining room table, sometimes on my couch with my odd cat on my lap staring intently at me, always at Starbucks where I drink too much coffee.I used to have an upstairs office, where I decorated a bulletin board with inspiring sayings and photographs but soon it felt too confined to me. I like to look at different things, hear different things, and be near my noisy kids and my husband who would always rather be fishing.
I love to write at night. Ten o’clock until two o’clock in the morning are prime writing times. So quiet and settled and I know where those naughty kids of mine are. I lived off about six hours of sleep a night for a couple of decades, but a few years ago I hit a wall and I try not to do that more than a few nights a week or I get even crankier and befuddled.
My advice to writers: Write where you can write. Might be the same place every day, it might be different. Just write, no excuses.
Chocolate helps.
Cathy Lamb's latest book, What I Remember Most, is out now.