Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour,  the writing life

Finding the Write Place

I used to sit at the kitchen island and type my little eyes off, but as I got older that became somewhat uncomfortable. Bar stool chairs hurt my rear and I often found my feet falling asleep. Since I have a laptop I thought to myself,  It goes on your lap, silly. That’s why they call it a laptop.  So I started leaning back in my favorite living room chair to write. It was after several months of this that I began to notice a slight problem. See, as a writer there are a few job hazards including deep vein thrombosis, carpel tunnel, a multitude of paper cuts, and finally gluteus giganticus, known by laymen as the development of writer’s ass.

My husband, who also spends his days behind a computer coding (he works at home right now, too), went out and bought us this exercise bike called a FitDesk. I started doing some writing while using that, but quickly learned it’s better to use the FitDesk while I’m social networking, reading articles, or answering email, otherwise I stop pedaling. This is especially true when I encounter a snag in my story. It’s like walking and chewing gum, evidently I can’t write, think through complex plot issues, and pedal at the same time unless I’m on a roll. [For the record, the Fit Desk is awesome. While it’s no substitute for a nice walk outside or a session of strong cardio, I can now get some exercise every day (no excuses) and my butt is thanking me for it.]

Since instituting my regular writing hours I’ve discovered another con to writing in my favorite easy chair (which is a recliner that’s part of a sectional couch). Cats. Yes, you heard me, cats. I have three very lovable geriatric house cats whose sun and moon rise and set with them sitting on the couch with me. I think it’s the one thing they love most next to canned salmon, of course. So with one cat curled up by my head, one wedged under my elbow and the other sitting exactly six inches to the right of my right knee, I write while covered in cats.

This normally wouldn’t be a problem if my eldest feline companion hadn’t started getting into the habit of meowing at me the entire time. Don’t get me wrong, like most writers I have that uncanny ability to escape into the world of my characters and tune out even the most annoying things, but a meowing cat is a bit hard to ignore at times. It was with this new behavioral development that I decided I needed to move my writing back into my office.

I know what you’re thinking. Why don’t I just write in my office? That’s where I should have been all along, right? Well, yeah, but I stopped using my office years ago after my husband started knocking on my door every ten minutes or so to ask what I was doing. That’s why I moved myself out to the kitchen island to begin with. It made me accessible and interruptible without cutting me off from the rest of the house. Of course now that I have actual writing hours where we’re both working, I suspect using my office again is probably more feasible.

There’s only one catch. Now I have to clean the office. See, I have a beautiful office. It’s a room with nothing but bookcases (filled to the brim, of course), and a beautiful oak roll top desk. It’s got great light. The problem is that the years of lack of use have rendered the room useless. In that I mean it’s become a storage room. Not to mention that until very recently, I no longer had a chair in there. We rectified that several weeks ago. Sure, if I just cleared the desk there would be plenty of room for me to work, but I fear the cluttered space would only serve to block me rather than inspire work. I really do need to move a lot of crap into storage. ::sigh::  It will happen because at some point the meowing cat is going to drive me crazy.

I have also toyed with the idea of taking the computer outside onto the back porch and writing out there.  Now that I have writing hours this is a distinct possibility. What about cafes and coffee bars, you ask?  Sure, when I was much younger I took a pad of paper and a pen to my favorite diner or coffee shop and penned a few paragraphs, often in the company of other writers. However nowadays I don’t hang out with any local writers, and why go to a place with a lot of distraction and noise when I have an almost quiet home to work in? All except for that one vocal cat who contests the fact that I am writing and not petting her.

C’est la vie

 

 About The FM Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

Today’s post was inspired by the topic My Favorite Writing Place this month’s topic in the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, an ongoing tour where you, the reader, travel around the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. We have all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and read their thoughts on their perfect writing spot, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour.  I blog with this tour the 25th of every month.  Up next on the tour: Becky Pratt!

Steph is an award winning and bestselling author of thrilling steamy and paranormal romances, dark urban fantasy, occult horror-thrillers, cozy mysteries, contemporary romance, sword and sorcery fantasy, and books about the esoteric and Daemonolatry. A Daemonolatress and forever a resident of Smelt Isle, she is happily married and cat-mom to three pampered house cats. Her muse is a demanding sadistic Dom who often keeps her up into the wee hours of the morning. You can contact her at swordarkeereon@gmail.com

3 Comments

  • Martin

    This is perfect. Fit Desk sounds awesome! When I write, I pace. Especially when I am stuck on a certain sentence or topic. I pace and think, and pace and think, and when I finally get it worked out in my head, I have to go sprinting back over to my table so I can write it down before I lose it all. If I can sit there and pedal it would make things so much easier! LOL

    I hear you with the cats though. When my wife and I got our kittens, all three would sit on her lap at once and pass out. Now, several years and even more pounds later, they believe the “kitty hotel”(as she calls it) is still open for business. It’s amusing seeing three huge frickin cats all trying to get comfy on one person.

    I’m totally saying my cats can beat up your cats! They’re huge. 😀

  • Steph

    LOL! I’m glad I’m not the only person with that problem (i.e. kitty hotel). I had to put my furry babies up in the bathroom for a few hours today so I could work. And you’re right, your cats could probably beat up my cats. Mine are both 15 years old (just put the 17 yr old down, sadly). 🙂

  • Martin

    Oh man! No good at all! I’m really sorry to hear that. We have 3 cats, all brothers from the same litter. They turn 6 here in about 10 days, and when I think about one day having to put them down, it really gets to me. I totally respect that death is a part of life and something to be accepted and experienced just like anything else, I just don’t look forward to the amount of hurt that’s going to be involved with that one. We don’t have kids yet so they really are like our sons. LOL. They really are frickin monsters though, smallest being probably 15lbs, biggest probably being 25lbs…so it does get funny when they all tackle my wife at the same time. 😀

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