When you prepare yourself to write...Do you...

[clintonlover]

1. Have to be in a certain area in your home such as the patio, 2nd bedroom, the garage?

2. Prefer to write in the daytime or nighttime?

3. Does the place where you are writing have to be perfectly quiet?

4. No TV

5.Turn off phone ringer

Or do you just write no matter what the circumstances are?

[KurtNYC]

1. Quiet is usually not an option

so I go with instrumental music or ambient recordings (waves, rainstorms).

I write exclusively on a computer, day or night.

Usually I read just before I start writing. I try to get into the tone and voice for the work either by reading the last stuff written or by reading something written in a voice I think is appropriate.

[undergroundpanther]

2. I just keep paper and pen or keyboard handy

Because artistic or writing inspirations hit when they hit.It's not unusual for me to be sketching out ideas at 3 am or 10 am or 6 pm or midnight.I don't worry about noise,in fact I think some noise in the background helps.I slap on a CD, I find I do good stuff parked at a mall table or coffeeeshop in the corner.
Sometimes I get inspiration in the weirdest of places,on a plane,in the woods in the rain or on the lightrail.I also sometimes attend a local poetry workshop to keep myself "limber".

[petgoat]

7. paper & pen...or 3X5 cards! You can even carry them jogging

(where I get some of my best ideas!)

"I get inspiration in the weirdest of places"

I woke up in the middle of the night on a dark Greyhound bus crossing
Nebraska and started scribbling a new opening to the novel I'd drafted.
The woman sitting in the seat next to me thought scribbling in the dark
was really wierd, but I didn't dare turn on the light for fear of
breaking the spell.

[petgoat]

6. Headphones can be nice n/t

[quisp]

3. I go to the public library or

the local university library, (W&M btw) and putter around until whaterver I need to write is ready come of my finger tips into the computer.

[petgoat]

8. Libraries Have Too Many Distractions

Starbucks may be politically incorrect but it's warm (or cool) and
there's music and a bathroom and after you get a $1.80 Vente
you can get fifty cent refills all day long and there's no distractions,
not like at home.

[oneighty]

4. Samples?

Excerpts?

180

[MsConduct]

5. Day or night, dark or light, the tv is always on, whenever

the mood strikes me I just head for the computer.

[kjejan]

9. Candles

Before I start, there are some essential "mood setters" I have, and they change from project to project.

When I used my laptop, it had to be just so on my lap, and I had to be just so on the couch, and a certain CD had to be playing. I could write in no other room, from no other seat, with no other music.

Now, in a new house and working on a new project, the process is this:
I must be at the desk. I can't transfer the stuff to work on any other computer in any other room. This is my 'spot.'

Must start by a certain time in the morning or the whole writing day, pretty much, is shot.

1. Light incense
2. Light two desk candles
3. Play musicmatch, either a combo of Enya, Kim Ritchie, and Joni Mitchell, or a combo of Damien Rice, Cat Stevens, and Van Morrison.

Reread last page written and GO.

[petgoat]

11. Candles Are Good, Incense makes Strong Associations with

other writing times. I tend to have music associated with different
projects--soundtrack to the movie kind of thing. Incense and the
soundtrack help me get back into it if I've been away from it for a
while.

[JaneGat]

10. Write every day no matter what

When I'm inspired nothing distracts me, but when I'm not, I have to find a quiet place.

[clintonlover]

12. That's me, too.

When I am in the mood to write nothing will get in my way, but when I am not I have to have quiet and peace, and be more relax than usual. I also need to get in the habit of writing everyday.

[BigMcLargehuge]

13. I can write under just about any circumstances

except for human interruption. My preferred setup is -

Home alone (Kids and wife away)
In my home office on my PowerMac with Mac Pro Keyboard
A specific playlist in iTunes (depending on story, Japanese music for the Burden of Bushido stories, Beethoven for Tears of Amaterasu editing etc...)
A vaccum pitcher of really hot strong coffee
Between noon and 5PM on the weekends (and noon to 2PM on weekdays)

My IDEAL setup is, almost identical except the computer is an iBook

I carry around a little 3" by 2" spiralbound notebook and a pen when I am away from home. This allows me to scribble conversation fragments, setting details, and story ideas while on the road.

[petgoat]

14. My preferred setup

Sounds great. Headphones are good for blocking out distractions.
Libraries can be good places to work, too.

I prefer 3X5 cards (and 3X5 pads) to the spiral notepads because
the notepad stuff tends (for me) to be disorganized. The note cards
start piling up in a shoebox and every few weeks I am forced to organize
them.

[BigMcLargehuge]

15. I have a near photographic memory

so the notebooks work well for me. I can remember which notebook and page has a specific snatch of dialogue that I captured, or a synopsis that I started... When they are full I put an elastic band around them and stack them on my desk.

I've worked in the library, but I actually become the distraction. I tend to write sort of like Robert E. Howard, i.e. I belch out my story as I type.

[sybylla]

16. Very similar for me - but no macs

:thumbsup: Definitely home alone - though I will escape to a quiet room if the house is full

:thumbsup:I do most of my writing at the pc in my office, but I find there is nothing more inspirational than putting a fine pen to paper in a comfy chair in a remote room when serious creativity is the order of the day.

:thumbsup: Music, definitely. Usually selected to achieve the proper mood for the scene I'm writing or editing. Sometimes candles but only because my office is in the garage and I don't find the smell of grease, paint and varnish particularly inspiring.

:thumbsup: my favorite beverage is usually at my side, though I'm not a coffee drinker.

:thumbsdown: I don't have any set time for writing. Running my own business I'm pretty much forced to squeeze free time for writing in where ever I can.

:thumbsup: I quite often make sure I have some kind of note pad with me just about everywhere I go. I also plan to make use out of the time I'm behind the wheel for long drives. Not to write of course, but I try to pick a story idea, a scene or a plot device to work out in my head while I drive.

[BigMcLargehuge]

17. I am more often than not a "stolen moments" writer as well

i.e. whenever I have the requisite free time to work into my groove and ride it for an hour or two. Still, in an ideal situation it would be noon to 2 on weekdays and 2-5 on weekends. I sometimes get the weekend time if I can bribe my family to go away... LOL... but that's working less and less well lately.

As for driving. Thankfully I no longer have a commute as my company went to telecommuting a couple of years ago. Though, every month or so I drive down to visit my mom and some friends. It's about 120 miles each way, and that gives me a good four hours of "deep thoughts" time.

[petgoat]

19. It's about 120 miles

I find a hand-held tape recorder to be a helpful accessory for road
trips. One three-day weekend trip I drafted five stories on tape--all
inspired by things I saw along the road. Without the tape I might have
conceived the germs of them, but I probably wouldn't have developed them
as far as I did.

[oneighty]

18. I wish we could see samples

of all this writing going on. After all it is a 'writing forum'.

Strut yer stuff.

180

[sybylla]

20. A litany of excuses, by Sybylla

1. I'm working on a novel. I have a goodly portion of it in fine shape but I don't have an excerpt of the proper proportions and interest to share. If I come across something, I promise to consider it.

2. I worry about copyright laws posting on a forum. I don't want to compromise future earnings by posting something here and either having it stolen or messing up the rights. Though I do write for fun, I am working hard to make money at it. I'd hate to ball that up.

3. I'm not a "strutter." I don't even like to sunbathe in my back yard and my nearest neighbors are a half-mile away. But I have found an excellent writer's group who give me invaluable advice on chapters I share with them once a month. That's about all the soul-bearing I can handle at the moment.

4. I wish I were as prolific as oneighty. I might have more wonderful stories to share

[petgoat]

23. Sybilla, if your novel is in fine shape, maybe you'd be willing to share

the first 1250 words. Openings are what it's all about. You go to the
book store, you see something that looks interesting--because you know
the author's work or because you like the cover art or because maybe the
name or the title sounds familiar.

So you grok on the back cover blurbs and you look at the beginning--and,
I guarantee you, in thirty seconds you decide if you're interested or
not.

[Angry Girl]

21. procrastinate.... like right now..... damn it!

damn it damn it damn it Since yesterday.

Otherwise it doesn't matter. When it works, it works. When it doesn't, I'm like, here. Shit.

[SteppingRazor]

22. Depends whether writing for fun or for my day job...

If it's journalistic stuff, I write at the last possible moment, wherever and whenever that may be, screaming toward my deadline.

If I'm working on a book, I go into the second bedroom, chain smoke, drink Scotch, and turn out 5 to 10 pages in a sitting. I'll have the TV on sometimes, other times not. Usually, I'll have music on.