The Where...

Do you find that where you choose to write makes a difference? During my marathon novel writing month I discovered a few interesting things about location. I tend to write either at home, or at work. At home I have a certain way I go about the actual writing, where at work I snatch moments of free time as they come available. I keep whatever I'm working on open behind my work email, spreadsheets and whatever else I have open on my computer. Then, when I have a spare ten minutes or so, I can spend them reading and tweaking or adding a few lines.

During NaNo I knew I needed more concentrated writing time, so on Wednesdays, when I don't work and the kids are both in school and daycare, I decided to spend a good four hour chunk of time writing. But where to do it? At home the chores would prey on my mind. The dirty dishes on the bench mock me, the pile of laundry creeping out of its basket grows ever nearer, threatening to smother me. The crumbs and dust on the floor seem to rustle and squeak. At work the phone rings and people need questions answered that only I can give answers to. Even when I tell my staff "I'm not here," they put calls through and yell upstairs for answers. So neither of those places was going to be a viable option.

So I went to the library. It's always been a favorite haunt of mine - how could it not be? Floors and floors of books just waiting to be opened and explored. I was concerned that might distract me, I'd catch sight of a book I just had to read and forget all about my own writing. But it didn't happen. I found myself a cozy desk just behind the YA section (hoping the vibes from all those published YA writers might flow into me) and settled in. The chick-lit shelf was just in sight and every time I went I giggled at the sub-section labelled 'rich kids who go to exclusive academies and form cliques' - that's specific!

Even now NaNo is over, I intend to keep my Wednesday morning library date. It's a time I can focus and work solidly without interruption. Hopefully it will make the revision process go more quickly this time around.

And on a completely different matter, I'm getting into the holiday spirit and thought I ought to do some kind of giveaway here on my blog. Is there anything any of you readers would like to see me give away? Query critiques? Chapter critiques? Books? Recipes? Film recommendations? DVDs? Let me know in the comments and sometime later this week, I'll set something up!