I'm so addicted to writing that...

Moon Daughter · Jun 29, 2007

I write no matter where I am (bathroom, car, home, someone else's home)...especially at work, which is a BIG no no. Hopefully my boss won't keep catching me in the act and fire me.

Oh well! Tis' the life of an addict. I need professional help.

What about the rest of you? Hopefully I'm not the only one who writes in the bathroom. :-D

Bo Sullivan · Jun 29, 2007

I'm not so bad now but years ago when I took up writing seriously and wanted to write Sonnets I used to sit every evening writing. Then when I went to bed and turned the light out, I found that I was composing more poetry in my head and had to get up and write the next sonnet, and this continued for ages. I have managed to calm myself down and now I don't write poetry but prose. I don't write every day any more. Just when I feel in the mood.

Barbara

JoNightshade · Jun 29, 2007

Nah, I write in my head. I save it up in my brain, whatever I'm doing, and then later I write it all down.

johnzakour · Jun 29, 2007

Moon Daughter said:
What about the rest of you? Hopefully I'm not the only one who writes in the bathroom. :-D

Okay, this has never been said in public before, but during the writing process of The Frost Haired Vixen something just wasn't clicking. I sat and sat in my office and it just wouldn't click. Then I remembered I wrote some of my best cartoons in the bathroom. So, for the next couple of days whenever I needed to use the bathroom I would bring a pad with me. I worked out the plot twists I needed.

So I have done some of my best writing in the bathroom.

(You just have to be careful you don't want to be sitting for too long! ;-) )

WackAMole · Jun 29, 2007

I have a little notepad at work that i take into the bathroom with me to scribble on

Azraelsbane · Jun 29, 2007

I often pull to the side of the road to write down a promising idea.

Death Wizard · Jun 29, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Nah, I write in my head. I save it up in my brain, whatever I'm doing, and then later I write it all down.

I'm like this too. I replay it over and over in my head until I can remember it almost as if it's memorized, and then I regurgitate it during my scheduled writing time. I can't remember everything, of course, but I figure what I can't remember probably wasn't worth writing anyway.

JoNightshade · Jun 29, 2007

deathwizard said:
I'm like this too. I replay it over and over in my head until I can remember it almost as if it's memorized, and then I regurgitate it during my scheduled writing time. I can't remember everything, of course, but I figure what I can't remember probably wasn't worth writing anyway.

Yep, exactly. It's just like directing a movie in my brain. I memorize all the awesome lines.

Sandy J · Jun 29, 2007

deathwizard said:
I'm like this too. I replay it over and over in my head until I can remember it almost as if it's memorized, and then I regurgitate it during my scheduled writing time. I can't remember everything, of course, but I figure what I can't remember probably wasn't worth writing anyway.

Sounds like there's a few of us "regurgitators" out there. The only other thing I do before I go to my laptop is to made some notes about the characters themselves. Physical description, hair color, typical reactions. The rest of the time, I'm just turning it over in my poor little brain until it's "right." Then I attack the story. The problem is the insomnia that results from an overactive imagination.

fjeastman · Jun 29, 2007

The john is my "private place". I find home bathrooms are close-in, brightly lit, quiet, come with white noise generators (just turn the faucet on a little). I take my notebook in with me to the bathroom quite often, and it is where I do a lot of my outlining.

--fje

Moon Daughter · Jun 29, 2007

Wow. It's a relief to know I'm not a weirdo for some writing time en el bano. I've tried to just write it in my head before, but I am one to easily forget my ideas and fantastic quotes.

JoNightshade · Jun 29, 2007

Gotta be careful with the addictive side, though. I know this elderly woman who has volumes and volumes of rhyming poetry-- every single stanza constructed in the same ABAB pattern. Over the years she has made such a habit of phrasing everything in that one single format that she can't escape it. She's conditioned her brain to think that way. SCAAAARY!

fjeastman · Jun 29, 2007

Or AWESOME, depending on whether you are her or you have to talk to her.

She needs to dispense wisdom to wandering Protagonists, now.

--fje

OverTheHills&FarAway · Jun 29, 2007

I watch kids during the day, and always have my notebook out and pen moving when they're otherwise distracted by the TV. The eight year old got so used to seeing me like this she often asks about how my novel's coming, and actually started one herself. It's about a puppy and her little girl, who look suspiciously like her best friend and her best friend's poodle. Oh well. You got to start somewhere. She types for a while by herself, then asks me to dictate. I have to stop myself from rephrasing things, encouraging her to show rather than tell. But we have done some character synopses, gotten real deep into their motivations and such. I sure do hope one of us is learning something. Taking dictation from an eight year old is tough stuff, and I'd rather be writing for myself.

Ho hum. Maybe when she's rich and famous she'll remember me.

reenkam · Jun 29, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Yep, exactly. It's just like directing a movie in my brain. I memorize all the awesome lines.

I do this, too. I can see the characters and the scene and I watch it over and over to remember it. Then the really good things they say I memorize. I do that during the day when I'm in a class or walking somewhere.

Othertimes I write things on post-it notes. Ideas, dialogue, character names, anything

Geist · Jun 29, 2007

Moon Daughter said:
I write no matter where I am (bathroom, car, home, someone else's home)...especially at work, which is a BIG no no. Hopefully my boss won't keep catching me in the act and fire me.

Oh well! Tis' the life of an addict. I need professional help.

What about the rest of you? Hopefully I'm not the only one who writes in the bathroom. :-D

Bathrooms are for reading. Bedrooms are for writing. Tabletops are for...

Death Wizard · Jun 29, 2007

Sandy J said:
The problem is the insomnia that results from an overactive imagination.

Yes! YES!

OverTheHills&FarAway · Jun 29, 2007

Sandy J said:
The problem is the insomnia that results from an overactive imagination.

I second that emotion.

Zoombie · Jun 29, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Yep, exactly. It's just like directing a movie in my brain. I memorize all the awesome lines.

Oh sweet, I do that too.

So it's like this.

Me: Hmm, so if Pix and Jimmy are on the hover dolly, and Hir is on another one beind them, they are going so fast and...

Mr.Kelly: Okay band, reset.

Me: And then if I add in some other dollys...

Mr.Kelly: David....

Me: And then light one of them on FIRE!

Mr.Kelly: DAVID!

Me: What? Oh, Reset! <Runs off>

Sandy J · Jun 29, 2007

At least, in my case, the insomnia's not so bad in June and July because I'm out of school and can just sleep late. It really blows during the school year. Tends to hit me around 3-4 AM. Argh....

Driving long distances gets to be a problem because I "zone out" and find myself ten miles down the road with a great scene plotted out but not a single memory of anything I passed along the trip. Scary.

Cindyh2k · Jun 29, 2007

When I learned to read, I read everything I could find - anywhere I could find to read - my Mom would sneak into my room at night when I was six or seven years old and find me under the covers with a flashlight reading. I read the cereal box, the milk carton, the labels on the bottles in the bathroom - everything I could get my hands on - anywhere I happened to be.

When I started writing - I would write anywhere I happened to be - at the table during meals, I would sneak my composition book onto my lap and write while the meal was going on (unless I got caught) - in the bathroom, I would write on toilet paper if I had nothing else - I have been at family reunions and other events and get an idea and I use a napkin or paper plate. Anywhere - on almost anything.

Obsessed? Or just LOVE what I do?

Cindy

heatheringemar · Jun 30, 2007

While I don't write in the bathroom, I often pull off the side of the road to write (lots of times I take a drive when I'm working on a knarly catch in the plot -- it helps me figure out what I need to do), and usually when my hubby's on the tractor in the field, I sit in our rig with my notepad and write.

I also sit with my notepad at dinner, while watching TV, and at work (I work in a Library, so there's lots of writing time).

Alana Mortensen · Jun 30, 2007

Moon Daughter,

This is crazy but I write in my head........ for poetry it may be one line or two or even two words or a possible title............. for prose it is not writing but directing. I see the scene as a director would then when the images are correct it autotranslates to words, of course the words I write are never perfect so editing is a must. Then I do no writing in my head and I am somewhat of an insomniac and stay up 'til 3 am writing or chatting and getting ideas and improving my dialogue skills, get up at 1 or 2 pm and my day starts all over again but now it has become stagnant to my writing and I am, BORED TO DEATH. Thinking of giving up the ghost but I am still too passionate about writing. I do my best writing at 1 am to 3 am. Rewrote the opening of a paranormal novel 4 times before I had the epiphany of writing it as narrative leading into diaglogue. And I'll be damned if it was not attention grabbing and imparted the same info that I had been telling to the reader. You guys helped me with that, thank you. That was at 1 am that came to me. That is a bit unusual, yes?

Dancre · Jun 30, 2007

Moon Daughter said:
I write no matter where I am (bathroom, car, home, someone else's home)...especially at work, which is a BIG no no. Hopefully my boss won't keep catching me in the act and fire me.

Oh well! Tis' the life of an addict. I need professional help.

What about the rest of you? Hopefully I'm not the only one who writes in the bathroom. :-D

I also write at work, behind the boss' back. YIKES!! I also write during my breaks and sometimes lunch hours. I hate it when I'm taking my break, sitting at my desk and someone stops to chat. I glance at the clock and see my precious 15 min ticking away. I think GO AWAY!!! I try to imagine a trap door opening and they are sucked down and I'm allowed to write. sigh!!!

kim

Josie · Jun 30, 2007

Oh yes, writing in the bathroom!! When I'm having a shower I get lots of ideas for what I"m working on. And I keep meaning to write in the bathroom and see what happens. Got to try that. Maybe now would be good.

Doncha just love it when writers connect like this thread? Fantastic

I'm so addicted to writing that...

has finally arrived

Dangerous with a Keyboard

WTF?!?!

Agony is defeat

Tumhe na koci puujetha

has finally arrived

In a state of denial...

has finally arrived

McNifico

aka cupcake

Tumhe na koci puujetha

McNifico

Dragon of the Multiverse

In a state of denial...

lurking behind that corner..

Just have fun.