Clicking Our Heels: Our Perfect Writing Atmospheres

Clicking Our Heels: Our Perfect Writing Atmospheres

Some people must write in absolute silence in a special place.  Some choose to write outdoors, others prefer to look through a window at water. Some must listen to music while others need food or beverages. The gang was surprised to discover what a variety of perfect writing atmospheres we have. Here’s sharing them with you.

Kay Kendall: Two things are essential. Quiet and a window. I don’t like to feel too enclosed. I can have soft classical music playing, but nothing with words. If I hear lyrics, then my mind gets pulled out of the story I am writing.

Dru Ann Love: When I write my musings, I prefer the TV on as background noise. If it’s too quiet, my mind wanders.

Linda Rodriguez: I write well in coffee shops for some reason, so if I’m really under the gun or stuck, I head out to a coffee shop and work away.

J.M. Phillippe: I prefer something on in the background – music, or even a familiar movie or TV show. This is all so I can distract the part of my brain that wants to edit as I go (and thus completely shut down my writing process). At some point though I get really into what I’m writing and I have to turn everything off and continue on in silence. At this point, flow has taken over and my internal editor has already been vanquished.

Debra H. Goldstein: Perfection is being able to look up and see a body of water while playing show music. I write in rhythm to show songs. Each book or story has certain ones I play throughout the writing.

Juliana Aragon Fatula: I love to write with music playing in the background. Music inspires me and makes me more creative. My blue tooth allows me to pipe music in the backyard while I mow the lawn or sit under the grape arbor and the sun/moon porch where I write has huge windows where I can birdwatch and listen to the chimes in the wind. I write in bed, in the kitchen, in the living roo and when I want to be alone I write in the camper in the driveway or in the wilderness.

Bethany Maines: I used to have to be alone and in “the zone”, but having a kid really forced me to fact that fact that the perfect circumstances to write would never again be appearing. Or at least not for another eighteen to twenty-five years and I couldn’t wait that long. I’ve learned that spending five minutes picking away at a scene is better than getting no writing done, so if I’ve got five minutes I’d better put some damn words on the paper. It’s not always that easy, but I try.

Sparkle Abbey:

Anita Carter: I like to write in my office with my any reference book at my fingertips. I have an adjustable standing writing desk top, which has helped me to write for longer periods of time. I wish I had it years ago. I can’t write in complete silence. Too many years of having kids at home, banging around the house. I like music, a podcast, or a streaming channel (like Acorn) in the background.

Mary Lee Woods: Hmmm. I do like music on when I’m writing but because I’m easily influenced by the tone, I have to be careful with my selections. I love using the streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, etc. because I can pick a channel that has a particular genre. I generally have some sort of tea beside me when I write, iced or hot, depending on the season. And though I have a window in my office, it’s not a very interesting view and truthfully when I’m fully into the story, it doesn’t really matter.

A.B. Plum: My office is my favorite place to write. I don’t listen to music or wear special clothes or keep a totem near my computer. Surrounded by books, I love my writing nook.

Shari Randall: I would love to be one of those writers who hangs out in coffee shops, but I don’t drink coffee and I’m easily distracted. To write effectively, I need three things: silence, a boring atmosphere, and my focus candle. A friend gave me this large, pure white candle, and meditating on its flame for a few minutes before writing puts me in a great state of mind for writing. The quietest place with the least distraction is my preferred carrel in the back of my public library’s quiet study area. It faces a blank brick wall. Perfect. However, it would be even more perfect if I could bring my focus candle, but they don’t allow open flames in the library – a quandry, for sure.

T.K. Thorne: I need silence and prefer to be outside if the weather is nice. I have a front and back porch location. Having the ocean in view is a special treat. Booming surf does not count as noise.

 Judy Penz Sheluk: I write in my home office, which is painted Benjamin Moore’s Philipsburg Blue, and listen to talk radio, even on the weekends, when a lot of the shows are advertorial, i.e. employment law or how to buy a car or invest money. I get a lot of ideas from talk radio.