Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Lightening is gonna strike me


This is blog was inspired by Pete's recent blog about Office Space and the question posed: Where do you write. The short answer for me is anywhere. Anytime. Anyplace. Any means. I'll use my desktop, laptop, notebook, envelopes, sticky notes, pretty much any piece of paper.
I once wrote a horror flash piece on the back of a church program while sitting in the choir loft. I was the Music director at the time and it was a rather boring sermon. I sold that piece too. I have a lot of downtime in church and it really frees my mind. I hope the Lord doesn't smite me for it, but Church is a peaceful place and I love writing there.

Soccer season makes me very happy for several reasons, not the least of which is that I write very well at the soccer fields. The other parents have stopped giving me funny looks and accepted the fact that Mary always has a notebook and is prone to writing fits. They don't stare anymore, just sigh and give each other that look. But they tolerate me and that's the best I can hope for. That and I wrote an entire children's novel in a month during soccer practice which is only twice a week.

Sometimes I write in my car. (Don't worry, I park first.) I drive a lot for work and I'm prone to squeezing in a little extra writing time after I park. I've written flash pieces and short stories during my lunch hour and I often email myself scenes written while at work to include in my novels.

I do have a desk banished to a corner of the marital bedroom and I'm happily typing away there right now. I also have a laptop, but I’m not such a laptop fan. I dislike the little keyboard and I tend to drop my thumbs onto the touchpad which makes the mouse do odd things. But I have written an entire novel on it.

Since the desk in our bedroom and my husband enjoys sleeping without the constant tap-tap-tap of my keyboard, I'm often forced to abandon my desktop just as my writing gets rolling. So one of the downstairs rooms is my office-under-construction. It's been under construction for about a year now, but I'm confident that I will provoke my husband into finishing with fits of typing at eleven o'clock at night. When else would I write my blog posts?

Church?

You think I want to get struck by lightening or something?

4 comments:

Midnight Muse said...

And the Lord spake unto Mary "Go, henceforth, and writeth unto thy novel. Seek ye the pew, and the parchment for which to compose. Dwell not on thine guilt, but glory in thy blessed duty."

And Mary was fruitful, and her novels did multiply and were prosperous.

Pewscribblers 5: vs 2-4.

Amen.

Mary B said...

And the Lord did look down and saw that Muse was good and a faithful companion and he blessed her with many words and great writerly deeds.

Pens II, 3 v.1

Anonymous said...

I was that horrible person that wrote during class rather than paying attention to the professor. I wrote a novel in Calculus, even. (I didn't actually pass Calculus, but that's not nearly as important to me.)

But yes, there ain't nothing wrong with taking a notebook everywhere. I'm sure God doesn't mind — after all, He's shown an inordinate fondness for poets.

Anonymous said...

"I have a lot of downtime in church and it really frees my mind. I hope the Lord doesn't smite me for it, but Church is a peaceful place and I love writing there."


Uh, if you get smited, I will, too, then. :)

I got one of my best novel ideas from a comment made by another lady at church - science fiction, and that comment basically created my entire world, culture, work ethic, and plot for that story. Which I promptly made notes of because there was no way I was going to forget that idea. :)