Virgina Woolf said ‘ a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is going to write.’
Well nice work if you can get it but it’s not that easy for some of us! When I started to write I had a full -time job but no money (well not much). At that time I had two children just into their teens who were getting more expensive to keep by the hour and it took all of mine, and my partner John’s, resources to keep us afloat.
Crucially however I did manage to bag the only bit of space going begging in the house -the spare room. I colonised it – finding a cheap desk and an ancient computer from the loft. I made it tolerable with the odd vase of tulips and got some bookshelves. I began to call it the ‘writing room.’ It caught on. Soon everyone in the house was referring to it as ‘the writing room,’ and I knew I’d cracked it when they started knocking on the door to come in! I wrote The Sweet Track in this room on cold winter nights and balmy summer evenings, at weekends and holidays, while somehow managing to provide a taxi service for the kids, keep up with work and also look after- after a fashion- things at home. Far from considering it impossible – writing junkie that I was, I loved every minute of it!
My room is much the same today -only with a better desk, more shelves, my laptop and printer and at the last count 63 notebooks – told you I was obssessed!
Here is the window in my writing room and my somewhat messy desk. I really do like to sit facing a window when I write. Windows are very important to me. I think it has something to do with spending so much time in prison where a lot of windows are small, barred and cloudy and it can be easy to forget that there is a world outside. Below is the noticeboard and shelves with one or two of those 63 notebooks!
Sometimes I dream of a vast study lined with book shelves, spread with persian carpets, inhabited by squashy sofas, an armchair or two and several desks. It’s not likely to happen.
But I know I’m lucky to have my own space – small can be good and writing junkies can write anywhere. I really do believe that. Getting hung up on the room, or anything else for that matter, can be nothing more than a distraction from the real work of writing – so perhaps I should take the hint, stop blogging and get my notebook out!
One last indulgence – I love looking at the rooms that famous writers work in – you can check them out at http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/writersrooms
– take a look at Eamon McCabe’s wonderful photos
Writing Tip – if it is at all possible, find a room of your own to write in – making a writing rooom is a signal of intent to those around you that you are serious about your writing. If a room is not possible then find a corner, a cupboard, a bit of the attic, a space under the stairs, a shed with a heater – anything you can grab. Once you have a space, however limited, you will find it will call to you and remind you that you are a writer and you need to get to work.
If there is really no space at home then find a favourite place outside of the house in which to write (these are good even if you have a room at home) – it might be a cafe with comfy chairs, a local library, a smart hotel lounge – a cup of coffee can last a very long time – just make it your own, in my experience people are very sympathetic to writers and will like having you around.
What is your favourite place to write? Let me know
Lovely setting. Anyone would love to write there, looking over the field. I sometimes think making a room and putting your symbolic hings about you is like marking territory. It tells others – and allows you to tell yourself – that you are allowed your own private thinking and writing space. Once you get that into your head then you can create personal space elsewhere and anywhere – in bars, in cafes, in libraries, on the train, on a park bench… For me this is in the form of a private glass bubble in which to think and write. But I have a feeling that this concrete space is the first step.
Your photos have a still life quality. All one needs is paints and a canvas…
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