Where Do You Write?

I'm really curious for feedback on whether where you are writing has any effect on your writing?

Through the years, I've had various favorite places to write. I was thinking of them over the weekend and it occurred to me that my most productive writing places always faced outward either toward a window or out into a room.  Whether it was the coffee shop I wrote in while my daughters had dance class (facing a window) or the makeshift office I created in the laundry room a decade ago (also facing a window), I seem to need open space ahead in order to lose myself in my story.

The problem with that is my desktop computer is in an enclosed office where I'm facing a wall. No wonder I'm always looking for outside wallpapers for the monitor.

Lately my most productive work has been early in the morning sitting propped up on my bed - looking outward into the room. I thought maybe it was just the early morning, but I got 1700 words written in an hour this afternoon in that same place.

I'm starting to think there's some psychological link here. It's almost like the wall behind my computer symbolizes writer's block.

Imagine how productive I could be if I had that beach desk?
Nah, I'd probably daydream all day.

What about you?
Where do you write? Does it matter to you?

Of Clydesdales and writers and friends that keep us going

Super Bowl Sunday is supposed to be about the football, but as I mentioned earlier on my HealthyWriter blog about healthy Super Bowl Snacks, it's often as much about the snacks and the commercials.

Some friends and I were discussing favorite Super Bowl ads of the past and I was thinking how much I always love the Budweiser Clydesdale ads. 

I love this one about "treats" because it reminds me so much of my Fenny who will do just about anything if he hears the word T-R-E-A-T.



But these two - - Budweiser's "Rocky" and Dream (technically an Olympics ad) - are probably my favorites of all time. When I watched them again just now, I couldn't help but think they make perfect metaphors for writers.

We start with a dream, but we're not ready. So we study and practice. Often we watch others win that contest or get that agent or sign the coveted contract. And we may want to give up; yet we push on. Keep on studying craft. Keep on writing - book after book. Keep on sending our work out into the world - hoping for praise but fearing rejection.









So here's to the Hank in all of us.

Be "the Clydesdale that could" next time you want to give up.

And special thanks to all the Dalmatians among us - those friends who give us the push, who keep us keeping on especially when times are tough.

This Bud's for you!

Stupid Things I've done

You know how once in a while you do something and then want to smack yourself?

Or is that just me?

I had one of those moments this week.

I was washing my winter coat. No big deal; I do it all the time.
But when I started up the dryer, I heard a strange thumping noise.

Hmmmm. There shouldn't have been anything in there that would thump, so I stopped the dryer and pulled out the coat, and there, in an inner pocket, I found - 

I tried drying it out in a bag of rice,

                                                                                                                        but it was gone.



My only consolation is that
a) It was free. I got it as a bonus with my iMac purchase several years ago.
b) it was on its last legs anyway; and
c) I hadn't yet decided what to do with my Christmas money from my mother.

So a brand shiny new iPod is on it's way to me. It will do many things my older one never could. But I'll miss this iTouch. It was my very first eReader and my companion on many a subway ride. It's an inanimate object, but its demise makes me sad. Probably because I caused it with my own stupidity.

RIP iPod.

Make me feel better. Have you ever done anything this dumb?

Seriously Yummy Potato, Onion and Cheddar Pie

Hungry? 

 I've got a really delicious recipe for a potato, onion and cheddar pie over at the Yankee-Bell Cafe today.

Yankee-Belle Cafe

Hot Lemon Water - Nature's Panacea

I'm blogging today over at Healthy Writer about how lemons can make you healthier and make it easier to keep all those New Year's Weight Loss resolutions.

Come by and share your thoughts.

2012

Happy New Year

I'm posting Healthy New Year's recipes over on HealthyWriter.com today but I thought I'd drop off some fun music here.