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Where I Write

Having asked of my readers, “Where does it happen for you?” – that is, where do you write? – and having received several interesting responses, I suppose it’s my turn to answer the question!

The more I think about it, the more I realize that where I write is often very different from where I am inspired to write.

The vast majority of the time, where I write is wherever my computer happens to be. Years and years (decades, even – yes, I’m that old) of a work (and later, personal) life dependent on first typewriters, then computers with keyboards, now laptops and netbooks, has made the act of writing, for me, inextricably linked with the act of typing.

I have become so used to typing that whenever I use a pen or pencil to write for any length of time, my hand cramps after a few lines and I have to shake it out before I can continue. By the time I’ve struggled to transcribe a scant handful of my thoughts onto paper, much of what was clamoring to be released from my brain has been released… only it’s gone into thin air rather than onto the pages of my notebook… gone and unlikely to be recaptured.

Creative writing in such a way is, in my world, an exercise in frustration and loss.

But when I type, my fingers fairly fly, and my thoughts are quickly released and recorded. When I type, fragile wisps of inspiration can be translated into something tangible almost as fast as they are revealed, and nothing is lost due to clumsiness or inefficiency. When I type, I can more easily turn off my inner editor – that critical censor that delights in taking advantage of the lag time between my brain and my pen – and allow myself to write.

Yes, typing is definitely my writing tool of choice.

That said, where I am inspired to write often ends up being in a place where it’s impractical (or even impossible) to fire up my laptop – during those first and last few precious minutes of the day, right before either drifting out of or into sleep… in the midst of taking care of life’s more mundane chores… or perhaps while enjoying a walk in the beauty of nature – and that’s where a notebook and pen will suffice to capture the most important nuggets of inspiration for later exploration.

How about you?

Are you Team Pen(cil) or Team Keyboard?

Laurel Storey, CZT – Certified Zentangle Teacher. Writer, reader, tangler, iPhoneographer, cat herder, learner of French and Italian, crocheter, needle felter, on-and-off politics junkie, 80s music trivia freak, ongoing work in progress.