Ideal Conditions for Writing

Happy Memorial Day everyone!!! I'm probably not leaving the house, but I'll be thinking about all those soldiers that gave their lives for their country.

And it's Monday again...which means tomorrow I have to go to school. But at least I only have four days this week. That's an upside, right?

I watched all the HBP (Half-Blood Prince) trailers, clips, and featurettes on IMDB yesterday. 51 MORE DAYS!!!! I can't wait...

Friday night I watched Taken with my family. Really good movie. I also added Valkyrie and 12 Rounds to my long list of movies to watch. Saturday night I watched Paul Blart - Mall Cop. Hilarious!

I read this news story yesterday. It's about a man that held up traffic for five hours while he threatened to commit suicide. So someone went up through the police and pushed the guy off the bridge. But according to the story he survived and wasn't really intending to commit suicide.

Yesterday was my rest day from running so today it's back to it. At least my legs have finally stopped aching.

In horse-related, but not writing-related news, Zenyatta went 10 for 10 Saturday while winning the Milady Handicap against stablemate Life is Sweet. Amazing race and amazing filly! I'm hoping for a Zenyatta vs. Rachel Alexandra match race. Match of the decade that would be.

Anyway...writing is the normal Monday topic so I should probably get to it.

Everyone has a different environment in which they write best. It may take some time, but it's worth finding. These are my ideal writing conditions:

  • Music. Whether its from the headphones or from the stereo I need music. Sometimes I just hook up the headphones to my mp3 player and put on my favorite country station. Other times I turn the sound on for the laptop and listen to my playlist. Some people have particular songs for a certain novel, but I don't. I just set the playlist on shuffle and skip a song once in a while. For instance, if I'm trying to write a love scene, Concrete Angel probably isn't going to be very helpful.
  • Noise. I can't write in silence. I need music and sometimes the TV as well. Total silence just bugs me.
  • Laptop or computer. I don't handwrite unless I'm in bed or somewhere else without a computer and an idea that I have to write down before I forget has popped into my head. Otherwise I have to be able to type. Mostly because I can type faster than I can write and also because typing doesn't make my hand cramp up.
  • Inside or outside doesn't matter. I like to write inside and I like to write outside. I have a special spot in the woods next to the swamp that I've been waiting for the trees to get leaves so I can go back to sitting out there without the neighbors being able to see me. (That bothers me too.) There's another spot farther into the woods that's beautiful, but I don't like to go back there because I can't tell if someone pulls into the driveway and I can't get an internet connection that far out.
  • Chair or bed. I really like to write on my bed especially late at night when my mom's in bed and the lights are off. There's a recliner in the living room that works well as a writing spot though.
  • Snack. Usually a bag of chips if we have any, otherwise I'll take just about anything in the house that my mom won't miss. I like to have a snack with me.
  • Drink. Usually it's a bottle of water since that's what I drink most of the time. When I get lucky I have a Pepsi or Monster. Monsters are the best thing since computers for writing. Once I wrote 11,000 words while drinking one. I'd suggest drinking them slow though because once you crash, you crash hard. Stayed up all night on one once reading Breaking Dawn and when my mom told me to feed the cats, I collapsed on my bed and slept for three hours instead because all my brain would comprehend was that I was exhausted and needed sleep. And don't drink too many because they're "bad" for you.
Well I think that's it. Your turn to share your ideal writing environment. :D

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