Tuesday 10 October 2017

Out of my comfort zone



A work in progress
We’ve been having our bedroom decorated this week and are thus sleeping in the spare room.
Nothing unusual about that, you might say, but after seven days I can’t wait to get back into my own bed. And then I realised it isn’t just the bed but the whole room (now in soothing tones of cream and mushroom). The bathroom is in a different place when I get up in the middle of the night. The window is on the wrong side of the room. So that all got me thinking. Are we always happy with where we write and does it have an effect on what we write?

We live in a traditional three-bedroomed house and some years ago the smallest of these was turned into a home office for me. I was SO excited. Bookcases lined the walls, a new desk assembled – not a posh one but perfectly serviceable. The printer was set up. I could look across the road into a field in times of reverie or when searching for inspiration. What could be better? 


Well, the temperature for a start. The room is north-east facing and has two outside walls. Even with the central heating on it never felt warm. With my back to the rest of the house, as it were, I felt cut off. This should have been a good thing as far as writing was concerned. No distractions, nothing to pull me out of my concentration. But it didn’t work. Not from the word go. Like my current experience in the spare room, I was out of my comfort zone. I felt a little sheepish when I told my husband that thank you very much but I would be returning to the hub of the home to work as before. Fortunately we hadn’t expended huge amounts on the transformation.

Writers often talk about their office or their garden shed or that place which is exclusively theirs. Some people dream about having their own space. But when it comes down to it we all have to go with whatever works for us. So I don't have white boards and pin boards and other such useful tools.


What I do have is a place where I feel at ease and can lose myself in the adventures, antics, activities, hopes and fears of my characters, all from the comfort of my armchair. My laptop sits on a cushioned tray. I have a table to right and left on which I stack the things I might need to refer to.

Do you have a dedicated office or writing space? Is it something you yearn for? Think twice before you take the plunge. Sometimes the things you most wish for are those you already have. I hope that by tomorrow night I will be sleeping in my own bed. But for now, as I write this piece, I am happily in my comfort zone. How about you?


7 comments:

  1. May you be ever happy and productive in your comfort zone. I write in my caravan with my dog by my side. Through the window to my side I can see a cluster of trees which at times stand in three feet of water which glints in fragmented sunshine. In front of me is the shingled Nature Reserve which is host to many birds. On occasions I have seen a tidings of at least a hundred magpies. Long-tailed tits, blue tits pigeons, thrushes and a robin are amongst those who visit the feeding station. Ducks and one pheasant come to sample the peanuts. Every evening I feed badgers (they love peanuts), by day two herring gulls claim my patch as their territory, discouraging any others who dare to try their luck. I sit with my laptop on...my lap. Oh! look, there's a rabbit. This is my comfort zone. Moya

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    1. Idyllic. I don't know how you ever get anything done with all that on your doorstep, Moya, but you do and it's inspirational. I wonder how much that has to do with your surroundings

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  2. I do have an office space, but I actually get more written sitting at the kitchen table with a pad and pen. Strange creatures, we writers. x

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    2. You can say that again, Jackie. My 'office' has become very useful storage space

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  3. I tried moving my big office Mac to the conservatory and working there earlier this year. Didn't work. I have a very messy office/storeroom next to the utility room where I get most of the work done, although when I'm on me hols in Turkey I work perfectly successfully in my bedroom. Funnily enough, the kids tried to move me into our tiny box room back in 2007, but that didn't work, either!

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    1. I think a space either speaks to you or it doesn't, Lesley. I know several people who work with their laptop in bed but I've never been able to do that. Turkey sounds nice.

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