I am fond of writing in bed, by hand, in a notebook, as soon as I wake up. I also like to drift from sofa to chair to sofa, carrying an ever-growing pile of drafts. I sometimes write at our kitchen table but, increasingly, this space has been monopolised by our daughter who’s now studying for ‘A’ Levels. I’m fortunate in being able to use the room that we used to call our children’s playroom as a writing space and, more and more, I’ve started to think of this as my writing room and our children now tend to call it ‘Mum’s Room’.
I quite often spread drafts of work out on our stripey rug (I sometimes tweet pictures of this and many, many people have contacted me to say they’ve bought the same one, from a well-known Swedish retailer) and I find this a comfortable place to sit. Yesterday, I treated myself to a new ‘office’ chair and a new ‘comfortable’ chair for my writing room.
One of the best things about this room, apart from the fact that is double-aspect and very light (even though one of the windows only looks out onto a wall and a small car park) is that I can close the door. Everyone in the family knows they can still come to see me if they need me but they also, very kindly, respect the closed door as a sign that I’m trying to work.
For some reason, buying a proper office chair, rather than making do with a rather uncomfortable one, has made me feel more optimistic and energised about my writing than I have done all year. It’s like I’ve made a promise to myself to take my writing seriously and to work harder. I have less excuses than I used to when I didn’t really have a proper, dedicated space. Even now, this is a shared space but I am now the primary user.
Anyway, these are my thoughts on a rainy and blustery February Sunday afternoon. What are yours and where do you write? Do let me know!
Josephine Corcoran 
I want this chair!
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Nell, I’m sitting in it and sensing its powers! I really hope it doesn’t disappoint me! x
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Me too
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I’m at the dining table trying to edit a synopsis for a first drafts competition. I’m surrounded by wet washing on the drier and masses of paper and notebooks on the table. I’m getting used to a new printer as my old one died. The printer is sitting on the floor! I have a few weeks to knock my synopsis and first 5,000 words into shape but I want it finished by the end of the week so I can relax!
Love your room and chair. My chair is a dining chair with two cushions on the seat for height!
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Oh, wishing you well with all of this, Heather! Glad to hear about your cushions, they sound like essential items.
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It sounds like a great space especially with a door that you can close. I shall have to take over my children’s playroom now they are teenagers and don’t play in it so much.
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Yes, exactly what I’ve done.
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For years I’ve always had a ‘special’ place to write – my shack in the corner of the garden the long-standing favourite. But now, after a protracted period of illness and pain culminating in a hip replacement op – which is, hooray, making things slowly better – I haven’t been able to go out to my shack at all. So I thought, hey, I can’t write any more. Recently though I’ve started trying a dabble of scribble in different places, and although nothing much has happened (it’s still quite painful to sit) it’s lifted my spirits and inside I am feeling almost able to write again. I particularly liked how you write almost anywhere, and find that inspiring – thank you!
Diana Gittins
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Hi Diana, Hooray indeed that your hip replacement op is slowly making things better. I really hope that continues. And hooray that you’re writing again, that’s wonderful. I can, more or less, write anywhere but I do need a nice pen and good quality paper. I prefer notebooks to loose-leaf sheets. My notebook is a portable office, really. But I REALLY love my new chair!
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Hi Josephine, I recently bought myself a lovely white leather looking notebook and have promised to try and write in it every day, even if it is to scribble the most unimaginative of thoughts. Your blogs are really inspiring and fun to read. Thanks for sharing xxx
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Hi Fiona, Your notebook sounds sumptuous! I try to write every day and most of is scribbling unimaginative thoughts. I use my notebook as a means of talking to myself and trying out ideas. VERY best wishes with your writing and thanks for such a kind comment!
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Lovely post, I enjoyed reading it. It’s great to have a proper writing place. I am lucky enough to have a converted attic room in this rented property, which doubles as a writing room, and a sewing room! I inherited a red swivel chair, which I quite like, but I love your chair even more!
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Ah, an attic room! Something I aspire to.
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My dedicated space has shrunk dramatically, so I mostly write in bed, on the laptop. No pen and paper for me. I used to write in notebooks, but I tired of deciphering crossings out and arrowed balloons, writing and re-writing. Word is so much more efficient for me.
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Writing straight onto a laptop is probably very efficient but it doesn’t work well for me, especially with poetry. I do, sometimes, write prose directly onto a laptop. There are no hard rules, you have to find what works best for you and stick with it!
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Fascinating. For over 40 years I’ve had houses where I could have a study. Bear in mind my 6 bedroom terrace house in Newcastle in 1971 cost £4.5K. So…the luck of being born in the 40s. Mainly the space would be full of marking and teaching materials. And no computers. Booklets made with collage and Letraset. Hand made, roneo-ed. Handwritten. No typing skills.I behaved, and still do, as if I’m incapable of productivity without being surrounded by millions of books, objects, pictures, staplers, mugs, a radio permanently on a music channel, a view out of the window, ……the right pen, the right paper, the right light, the right biscuits. Classic displacement rituals. At one time, ashtrays. I’ve come to terms with keyboards and generally love Word for its copy/cut/paste fast-edit capacity, the way you can produce multiple variants of a poem, and See maybe 4 side by side on a screen. But new poems …….Ah, there’s different, then. Only, or almost only, in a roomful of writers with a five minute deadline and minimal instruction. And a finepoint Stabilo black ink pen. And an A4 notebook. For creativity:pressure. For editing: my room, radio, and biscuits.
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All the different rituals and processes are interesting! Quite a few shared here, already. I can write almost anywhere but I’d find it hard to work with music on. That’s for dancing to afterwards when a poem has taken shape.
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Agreed. If we were all the same, life would be so boring.
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My first visit here and I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts Josephine and all the comments, there is lots to inspire and encourage so I’m very glad I found your site. I write straight into my laptop for some things, mostly prose but for poetry I find its too quick, I like the slowness of a pen for that as it gives me time to think and feel the words.
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Thanks for the lovely comments, Diane, and for sharing your own writing process. I think I know exactly what you mean about the slowness of a pen and I agree with you, that’s something I need for poetry.
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One of the places I write is sitting in my husband’s studio (www.frankmcclean.co.uk) in Holt at the beautiful table he made some years ago.
The table came from our old house and has supported all the birthday teas of our two now adult boys and all our family Christmas dinners until we downsized from the old house last summer. It now supports a weekly writing session for me and the three ‘diamond’ fellow writers I am privileged to write with here. Thanks Nicky, John and Trisha.
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Sounds idyllic!
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