The Strange Habits of Writers

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Paul Whybrow

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Jun 20, 2015
Cornwall, UK
Writers are outsiders, observers, solitary folk who can be eccentric. We've all got our funny little ways - I know that I have, though some of my idiosyncrasies are solutions to my current circumstances.
As I've mentioned before, I live in a very noisy place, a flat above a petrol station with a car repair workshop nearby, and a main road and airport flight path running parallel to the site. Lord knows what possessed me to take the tenancy, but I've had to adapt to the noise and lack of insulation in my roofspace garret.
I listen to loud music through earbuds while I'm working. In summer it reaches 90 degrees, so my electric fan becomes my best friend, as I turn into the Nude Novelist - there are advantages to living alone. In winter, it's rarely above 50 degrees, so I become the Michelin Man through wearing up to twenty garments - including woolly hat and gloves.
With writing material, I tend to make notes in LibreOffice and I have about 100 folders of ideas for different things, such as character names, titles for poems, phrases to use and plot outlines. I'm also in the habit of jotting notes and reminders on jobs that need doing on squares of card, cut from food packets. These are scattered around my workstation, and I sometimes remember to look at them.
When I see those articles that Sunday newspapers like to run in their magazines, about writers and their offices, I wonder what they'd make of mine!
Some authors are weirder than me, as this article reveals :

http://www.theguardian.com/books/20...antelope-skin-writers-oddball-quirks-revealed

I've visited George Bernard Shaw's home at Ayot St. Lawrence, which is not far from my home town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It's a strikingly minimalist house, as Shaw was an ascetic and didn't believe in fripperies. His writing shed is situated at the bottom of a steeply sloping lawn, at a distance from the house. What's useful about its revolving capability, is that when it's turned away from the house the hut windows and door are covered over by the thick hedgerow, affording complete privacy.
How strange are other Colonists ? Confession is good for the soul...
 
I can be very strange, though I'm not sure it manifests as quirks or eccentricities. Living with my hubby and dealing with only occasional visitors, I've spent most of this summer in the barest essentials of clothing. Our little flat has become a sauna this year, I can't wait for autumn.
 
For me, I work in a small bedroom that we have converted into an office, of sorts. A really small one. I don't listen to music or anything that will break my train of thought. I have a fan, when it gets hot and warm boots and jackets when it gets cold. We live on the flight path for an Air Force Base, so it gets noisy at times. I spend hours reading or researching, editing, editing some more, and when I think I'm done, edit even more.
I usually have fb and Litopia up all the time when I'm up. Other than that, I think I'm about as "normal" as I'm ever going to get.
 
I don't know that I necessarily have quirks (that relate to my writing - I have many otherwise). The only thing I can't have more than music while I'm writing is other conversations, so if I'm out in public writing, I will put on music, but it has to be music I've listened to for years so that it easily becomes white noise. Other than that, I don't listen to music.

The physical act of creating new words is also a difficult process for me, so I usually have "step-goals" for myself each night. If I need to write 1000 words, I'll take a break at, say, 300 or 400 and listen to some music or read or play a video game (hello, Super Mario 64) for 20 minutes. Maybe a second break at 800. Depends on the mood I'm in. And, if I do really well and break 2000 words in a night, I reward myself with $10 for free spending later on.
 
writing room two.jpg My writing room is one of the bedrooms upstairs, and for now I share it with our 20 year-old arthritic cat, Shadow, who has to be kept separate from our daughter Nicole's cat, Kitty, because Kitty goes after Shadow otherwise. Shadow seems to like the room because she has a twin bed to hang out on all day, and there are windows to look out next to it, plus plenty of sunlight. The room faces south and I don't have heavy drapes on the windows.

I have pictures on the walls, including some of my favorite cover art, bookshelves stuffed with some of my most treasured old novels, my how-to books, knickknacks given to me by my husband and sent to me by readers, and my collection of coffee cups.

My old typewriters are on display, alongside essentials like my printer and several small lamps. I often write at night and I like the room lit up when I do. I have a cork bulletin board where I've hung up cards that readers have sent me, and other things of significance. I also have a magnetic whiteboard where I've displayed a magnet for each of my books - they have the books covers on them. Behind my desk are two whiteboards. One I use to keep track of releases by title and date of publication, and the other I use to draw maps or other things that are difficult to produce in a Word doc. On my desk is my iPod charger and assorted large coffee cups that hold pens, etc.

When I'm home, I write in this room, and often have to put in my ear buds to drown out the noise in the house, or the noise outside. Our home is in a cul-de-sac, and it can get noisy, especially on weekends when I do most of my writing. But I like my room, and I've filled it with special things. Shadow likes it because she has company all day when I'm in there and writing. :)
 
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For me, I work in a small bedroom that we have converted into an office, of sorts. A really small one. I don't listen to music or anything that will break my train of thought. I have a fan, when it gets hot and warm boots and jackets when it gets cold. We live on the flight path for an Air Force Base, so it gets noisy at times. I spend hours reading or researching, editing, editing some more, and when I think I'm done, edit even more.
I usually have fb and Litopia up all the time when I'm up. Other than that, I think I'm about as "normal" as I'm ever going to get.

Good to know that I'm not the only Colonist on a flight path. Shortly after I moved in here, I was standing on my outside landing, looking at the petrol delivery lorry pumping thousands of gallons into the underground storage tank, while twenty yards away a car mechanic welded away with sparks flashing. Then a motorcycle screamed past at 100 mph, racing a turbo-prop passenger aeroplane that was descending to the runway half a mile away. Had one small thing gone wrong, I would have been toast! I've never bothered to check out what my fire insurance premium would be here, but I suspect that it would bankrupt me.
 
View attachment 236 My writing room is one of the bedrooms upstairs, and for now I share it with our 20 year-old arthritic cat, Shadow, who has to be kept separate from our daughter Nicole's cat, Kitty, because Kitty goes after Shadow otherwise. Shadow seems to like the room because she has a twin bed to hang out on all day, and there are windows to look out next to it, plus plenty of sunlight. The room faces south and I don't have heavy drapes on the windows.

I have pictures on the walls, including some of my favorite cover art, bookshelves stuffed with some of my most treasured old novels, my how-to books, knickknacks given to me by my husband and sent to me by readers, and my collection of coffee.

My old typewriters are on display, alongside essentials like my printer and several small lamps. I often write at night and I like the room lit up when I do. I have a cork bulletin board where I've hung up cards that readers have sent me, and other things of significance. I also have a magnetic whiteboard where I've displayed a magnet for each of my books - they have the books covers on them. Behind my desk are two whiteboards. One I use to keep track of releases by title and date of publication, and the other I use to draw maps or other things that are difficult to produce in a Word doc. On my desk is my iPod charger and assorted large coffee cups that hold pens, etc.

When I'm home, I write in this room, and often have to put in my ear buds to drown out the noise in the house, or the noise outside. Our home is in a cul-de-sac, and it can get noisy, especially on weekends when I do most of my writing. But I like my room, and I've filled it with special things. Shadow likes it because she has company all day when I'm in there and writing. :)

What a peaceful room. It must be a comforting place to write, and you've got a green-shaded banker's lamp - which proves you're a scribe! These are also known by the rather nicer sounding name of Emeralite, though I've always coveted one with a blue shade.
 
View attachment 236 My writing room is one of the bedrooms upstairs, and for now I share it with our 20 year-old arthritic cat, Shadow, who has to be kept separate from our daughter Nicole's cat, Kitty, because Kitty goes after Shadow otherwise. Shadow seems to like the room because she has a twin bed to hang out on all day, and there are windows to look out next to it, plus plenty of sunlight. The room faces south and I don't have heavy drapes on the windows.

I have pictures on the walls, including some of my favorite cover art, bookshelves stuffed with some of my most treasured old novels, my how-to books, knickknacks given to me by my husband and sent to me by readers, and my collection of coffee.

My old typewriters are on display, alongside essentials like my printer and several small lamps. I often write at night and I like the room lit up when I do. I have a cork bulletin board where I've hung up cards that readers have sent me, and other things of significance. I also have a magnetic whiteboard where I've displayed a magnet for each of my books - they have the books covers on them. Behind my desk are two whiteboards. One I use to keep track of releases by title and date of publication, and the other I use to draw maps or other things that are difficult to produce in a Word doc. On my desk is my iPod charger and assorted large coffee cups that hold pens, etc.

When I'm home, I write in this room, and often have to put in my ear buds to drown out the noise in the house, or the noise outside. Our home is in a cul-de-sac, and it can get noisy, especially on weekends when I do most of my writing. But I like my room, and I've filled it with special things. Shadow likes it because she has company all day when I'm in there and writing. :)
Holy crap what an awesome writing room. I also adore the lamp; I had one just like it once, but it was broken. I now realize i need a new one. But the desk, Starry Night, and chair do it for me.

Idiosyncratic doesn't begin to describe me. In college, I refused to drink from a cup that had left my hand presuming it had been poisoned in the interim — even if I was alone at home. If I entered the living room to talk with my parents or watch TV but I didn't plan on staying long, I had to be standing on one leg on a particular floral print of the area rug. I've been told multiple times my laugh sounds like Tom Hulce from Amadeus. I went an entire summer drinking nothing but Mr. Pib on principle. And other such eccentricities.
 
Holy crap what an awesome writing room. I also adore the lamp; I had one just like it once, but it was broken. I now realize i need a new one. But the desk, Starry Night, and chair do it for me.

Idiosyncratic doesn't begin to describe me. In college, I refused to drink from a cup that had left my hand presuming it had been poisoned in the interim — even if I was alone at home. If I entered the living room to talk with my parents or watch TV but I didn't plan on staying long, I had to be standing on one leg on a particular floral print of the area rug. I've been told multiple times my laugh sounds like Tom Hulce from Amadeus. I went an entire summer drinking nothing but Mr. Pib on principle. And other such eccentricities.

Sounds more like OCD, you poor thing!

Yes, I love my room. I'd love it more if Shadow and her litter box weren't in it, but oh well. LOL!! She IS pretty old, and Kitty just tortures her if we let her roam around the house now, so at least I know her last days will be spent in a room where she feels safe. :) Nicole and her housemates in college bought Kitty three years ago, and as soon as she told us about the new cat, Hubby and I looked at each other and said, "We'll have another cat in this house when she graduates and moves home." LOL!! She moved out of the house a year and a half later, and took Kitty with her. We've actually had Kitty here since Thanksgiving, because the ride to and from school for Nicole was six hours, and Kitty does NOT travel well. It was too traumatic for her going back and forth every time Nicole wanted to come home for a while, so we kept her at Thanksgiving. Nicole graduated in May and is home now, and Kitty has the run of the house, except for my writing room. When I leave the door open while I'm home all day she'll come in there, but because she thinks of it as Shadow's room now, she doesn't try to get all territorial on the older cat inside the room. Plus, she knows I'll just kick her out anyway and shut the door if she tries any crap. :)
 
Sounds more like OCD, you poor thing!

Yes, I love my room. I'd love it more if Shadow and her litter box weren't in it, but oh well. LOL!! She IS pretty old, and Kitty just tortures her if we let her roam around the house now, so at least I know her last days will be spent in a room where she feels safe. :) Nicole and her housemates in college bought Kitty three years ago, and as soon as she told us about the new cat, Hubby and I looked at each other and said, "We'll have another cat in this house when she graduates and moves home." LOL!! She moved out of the house a year and a half later, and took Kitty with her. We've actually had Kitty here since Thanksgiving, because the ride to and from school for Nicole was six hours, and Kitty does NOT travel well. It was too traumatic for her going back and forth every time Nicole wanted to come home for a while, so we kept her at Thanksgiving. Nicole graduated in May and is home now, and Kitty has the run of the house, except for my writing room. When I leave the door open while I'm home all day she'll come in there, but because she thinks of it as Shadow's room now, she doesn't try to get all territorial on the older cat inside the room. Plus, she knows I'll just kick her out anyway and shut the door if she tries any crap. :)
I didn't have to pat my shoulder of flick the light switch three times each, but I was definitely border-lined. My father's the same way. It's gone away almost entirely, in the years since.
 
Good to know that I'm not the only Colonist on a flight path. Shortly after I moved in here, I was standing on my outside landing, looking at the petrol delivery lorry pumping thousands of gallons into the underground storage tank, while twenty yards away a car mechanic welded away with sparks flashing. Then a motorcycle screamed past at 100 mph, racing a turbo-prop passenger aeroplane that was descending to the runway half a mile away. Had one small thing gone wrong, I would have been toast! I've never bothered to check out what my fire insurance premium would be here, but I suspect that it would bankrupt me.

Yikes! Sounds like a bomb ready to go off. Actually I live on two flight paths, now that I think about it. One is for the small airstrip that is less than a half-mile from the house and has mostly Cessna's, and other small craft, flying in and out during daylight hours. The other is the Air Force Base and has C-140's flying all the time and at all hours (these tend to rattle the house). Between those and the Army Base having lots of Night-Fire exercises (nothing like the sound of AR-15's and M-60's; sounds like...playtime(you thought I was going to victory!).).

Idiosyncrasies, I have a few, but none relating to writing. When I eat, I only eat one thing at a time, with the meat portion usually last (ie: all the veggies first, then the potatoes, then the meat). I usually have milk with the afternoon meal and the glass has to be on the right-hand side of my place. This is odd because my coffee cup on my left...always and I'm right-handed. I never have coffee with a meal (just before and just after, sure, but not during). These are just a few...I have noticed, over the last 2 or 3 years, that I'm turning into "Walter" (ie: Jeff Dunham). I usually see something stupid on TV and the first thing I say is "Dumbass!" Must be an age thing.
 
Could be. I shout rude things at the telly, before I change channel, that is. There's so much stupid, pointless, empty, gormless....
'Coast' is a great programme.
We sold our house two years ago, and are renting a modern, very light and airy upstairs apartment, pondering our next move. Where do I want to be living when I die? It might seem morbid but is is a consideration. The house was character Edwardian. There are no ghosts here, though something slightly odd has been going on in the last few days. Not creepy at all, just odd, and sooner or later those sort of things have happened everywhere I've lived. A benign something, the opposite of a gremlin, that does little odd but helpful things. Nothing to be done about that. It is as it is.
I just like to keep things tidy, comfortable and harmonious. Except of course when I'm shouting at the telly or snarling at the spouse, but don't worry for him, he's 10 years older, and was an army officer when we met, and he's a lot bigger than fierce but gentle civilian, moi. And he's not interested in books. He does read, mostly histories, which I read too. He won't even look at my writing; he's not interested, but is sometimes rude about it, as a waste of time. I will have the last laugh, there. I see it. Meanwhile, I keep the soup ladle in my desk drawer, right here....;)
 
Could be. I shout rude things at the telly, before I change channel, that is. There's so much stupid, pointless, empty, gormless....
'Coast' is a great programme.

Same here, so my wife has to listen to me talking to the "talking heads" with my opinion or hear me say "Dumbass" every few minutes.
My wife was reading my work before she went blind, but she doesn't think its a waste of time. Here, the little disharmonies add to the harmonies making it unique. Most people don't like bagpipes, but when AC-DC put them into "It's A Long Way to the Top", it all fit together nicely.
 
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Wish I had a writing room like Carol's, or just a writing room. These days it's my knees, and certainly not a good idea. Eventually it'll be sorted out, by hook or by crook!
 
You might like this Scottish band Runrig:

Sad but sublime:

Or, Every River

So many favourites :)


The point is, I don't know where it comes from. I'm Irish and German predominantly. I don't like everything about anything, when it comes to music. I like certain things in lots of music styles and have been told I have eclectic tastes (which is weird to me). I like some classical, some rock (from different eras), and a couple of Country songs. Maybe it's an emotional connection.
I love "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" almost anytime. And can go from that to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica.

This one gets me, too.
 
90% of my writing is done on a Chromebook crammed on my lap between me and a steering wheel. I live on an island and commute every day to work on the mainland. So my twenty five minute trips give some time to write in the ferry line waiting, and then on the trip itself.

Half the time I'm just rereading what I wrote last time and fiddling with phrasing and fixing small errors and don't even get new words down. Then when I am on a roll the damn ferry is docking and I have to close it up and drive to work... My brain keeps working though and I usually have to put a few notes into my phone when I arrive so I don't lose them.

Repeat on the way home.

Fun. Im looking for a few people to beta read a 12k word sci fi short if anyone's interested.
 
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The point is, I don't know where it comes from. I'm Irish and German predominantly. I don't like everything about anything, when it comes to music. I like certain things in lots of music styles and have been told I have eclectic tastes (which is weird to me). I like some classical, some rock (from different eras), and a couple of Country songs. Maybe it's an emotional connection.
I love "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" almost anytime. And can go from that to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica.

This one gets me, too.


I think that's it @MontanaMan. Those Runrig tracks, besides being Scottish, have got that lovely melancholy Minors air. I was talking about this with one of my sisters, who plays guitar. She suggested it was to do with minor keys and chords. She likes majors. Most Springsteen is majors, apparently.
 
I'm weird and fully embrace it. I love to people watch and create scenes in my head. I think of them as mini movies only I can see. When writing I need background noise, whether it's the t.v. or music, but I know that silence is more distracting to me. I used to have to study the same way or my mind would wonder off. I am prone to migraines and have learned that I need to take breaks and try not to look at what I'm writing. I used to have an office that I was just getting decorated to my liking but we ended up renting it out, so now it's my lap in the room that is working out the best. My desktop computer also died this past winter and now I have to write on the laptop whish takes some time to get used to.
 
"The Nude Novelist" sounds like a great book that needs to be written. I have a simple writing desk and a laptop, and I always listen to music when I write, except when I'm doing a serious edit and can't concentrate with it on. Sometimes, I'm so into just one song, or a group of three or four songs, that I will listen to them on repeat for an hour or two. I have dealt with mild OCD tendencies (*waving at Jason*), and I think of this as my musical OCD. I've been listening to the same 7 Sarah McLachlan songs on a loop for three days now.

One of my cats has established my desk as his current Happy Spot, and at least 10 times a day I have to gently move his big Siamese bum out of the way, so I can actually use the mouse or set a drink down. I typically have a drink going while I write, mostly water or a soda. I rarely drink coffee (I know - bad writer!), and I save my love for wine for after I finish writing.

I don't think I could write if I was wearing shoes. I'm barefoot 100% of the time, unless I'm in public, and even then, I will go to the grocery store sans shoes. Feets gotta be free.
 
I have a separate building that my husband and I built to serve as my office. It's got sliding glass doors that take up the entirety of two walls, so it's like working in a little conservatory--sunny and bright, and in the summer I can fling open both doors and feel like I'm outdoors. I have a specially built (by that brilliant husband again) shelf for on the desk so I can stand at the computer while I work (I can't sit all day or I go crazy). The shelf is easily put away on weekends, when the office transforms into craft room (it houses my loom, sewing machine, etc.). My neighbors are a couple thousand Romney sheep, which at this time of year, when lambs are in the paddocks, can be remarkably loud. For other noise, I have the odd tractor and during the summer an occasional Hercules goes over on the way to Antarctica...and of course, the goats begging for food and attention whenever they notice me staring out the window, contemplating a bit of tricky dialogue. Oh, and the best part of the office is the deck overlooking the pond--a perfect place for lunch or contemplation! I love my office!

Of course, there are weeks like this one, when the spouse is out of town, and I'm driving the kids to and from school myself every day, which means that, unless I want to spend ALL day in the car, I have to work at a library somewhere in the city. Then it sucks--the noise cancellation headphones are an essential.
 
New Zealand, just south of Christchurch. The Antarctic planes take off from Christchurch airport and have a flight path different from every other--go right over the house, and sound like they're about to land in the lounge!

Very cool. How long are they in the air? Seems like quite a trip.
 
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