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A Place and Time to Write

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Finding a Place to Write

Jean Kerr locked herself in her car to write. Ernest Hemingway stood at a drawing board. Erma Bombeck, I suspect, locked herself in the bathroom. Some of us used to haul the typewriter out every day to the kitchen table. Perhaps some still write on a legal pad on their knees in bed or on the couch.

Have you found the perfect place to write, if there is a perfect place? I tried many ways, but the one I enjoyed the most was done with pencil and pad, lying in a hammock under trees on a camping trip in the mountains of Georgia, while my husband took our four young children blueberrying.

I have used the kitchen counter, an improvised bookcase-table in the dining room, and I’ve carried my typewriter out to the children’s tree house where I could sit in the breeze on a hot summer day to write.  Then my husband built me a cabinet that housed my typewriter, paper, and reference material and closed up like an attractive box when I left. It was an unobtrusive addition in a corner of the living room.

A lot of my writing was done before the age of computers. When I first used a computer and was editing two quarterly magazines, I set up a door-sized slab of plywood on concrete blocks to hold everything.

Now it’s easy. I go where the computer is. You may use a laptop, but I have my workroom area with PC, shelves, bookcases, printer table, telephone, coffee cup holder, and — of course — clutter.

Finding Time to Write

If your children are still young, or you have kaffee-klatching neighbors, you need a place to hide. Or a time to write when everyone is gone or asleep.

I’m not a night-owl, so I can’t stay up after everyone else is in bed or deprive myself of sleep to get up before the rest of the family. When my children were preschoolers, I had to squeeze in little moments. It was still difficult when my children were in school. I remember standing in the middle of the kitchen – the oldest in school, the second in kindergarten, and two napping — wondering what I needed to do most with my one or two hours – mop the kitchen floor? fold the pile of laundry? write? Heavy sigh.

Now the family is gone, and I have all the time in the world. And I write.

Have you found a way to conquer the where and when to write? The most important thing, of course, about the where is here, and the most important thing about the when, is now.

Follow Peg Sias Lantz:
Peggy Sias Lantz is a native Floridian and lives on the lake settled by her grandfather in 1914. She is a jack-of-all-trades and has written hundreds of articles on many subjects and authored ten books, including Adventure Tales from Florida’s Past and Florida’s Edible Wild Plants. She also served as editor for the Florida Native Plant Society and Florida Audubon Society publications. She invites you to visit her website: peggysiaslantz.com
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5 Responses

  1. claudiajustsaying
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    Peggy, Loved your post. How do I follow you? Claudia

  2. Iris Zerba
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    I fully understand trying to write with young children around. First my own kids, now my grandchildren.

  3. Rick Shorrock
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    Nice article. I’m on my second book and finding time to write is difficult at best, impossible at worst. My wife is a pet sitter and night owl and I get to (notice I didn’t say “have to”) get the morning dogs up before I get to writing. On top of that, to pay the household bills, I work at a retail job. So time is at a premium.

  4. Jane Kelly Amerson López
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    Great piece. You absolutely nailed it with your final sentence. “The most important thing, of course, about the where is here, and the most important thing about the when, is now.”

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