Setting - where do you write?

DoubleIT · Sep 10, 2005

Ive made some major life changes recently and been doing some new things. One little thing i did was change where i write and BOY what a difference it made. I used to just write whenever i felt like it on my desktop pc. Now ive started going to Starbucks when i wake up and shower and writing there for a few hours on my laptop. Its AWSOME. The enviroment is relaxed but not dead like my room. When i want to daze off for a second there is a lot to look at inside and outside which is good insperation plus I know i am there to work and no one will bother me so i stay focused. Plus by grande caramel mochito with a double shot of expresso helps me get moving.

Where do you guys like to write? ever try to get out of the house to do it? I just finished outlining my next script and in the last two days have done 35 pages of my rough. Moving along real well

Blank · Sep 10, 2005

I try to avoid the sweet caress of corporate retail america as much as I can.
Don't support Starbucks and it's bohemian facade, they just want your money. Also, coffee is bad for you, especially the type they sell.
I digress, maybe it's good for listening to people talk, so I guess you can take that angle.

DoubleIT · Sep 11, 2005

Blank said:
I try to avoid the sweet caress of corporate retail america as much as I can.
Don't support Starbucks and it's bohemian facade, they just want your money. Also, coffee is bad for you, especially the type they sell.
I digress, maybe it's good for listening to people talk, so I guess you can take that angle.

I used to be very anti starbucks myself but there are no other coffee shops that i can support around here so its the only option.

WritingFool · Sep 11, 2005

Tell, me blank. What's not bad for you now a days. Do you realy want to live forever?

hmm...blank sounds very familiar. Wonder who he was in his past write forum?
I got an idea

Joe Calabrese · Sep 11, 2005

Not a Vig, if that's what you suspect.

As for me. I write on the desktop most of the time in my dark, quiet office lulled with the soothing sounds from my 6000 mp3, but I do bring my laptop to a B&N once and a while.

I find though that I get too easily distracted when I am around people or things (like books, magazines, odd people, etc...)

odocoileus · Sep 11, 2005

I'm always trying new places.

The Starbucks and Coffee Bean at Ventura & Topanga are both open fairly late, 11 or 12 depending on the season. They can both be a little crowded at times. The white noise from a crowd can sometimes be helpful, though.

The new Burbank library is really nice. Plenty of nooks and out of the way areas. Often crowded, though. Plus, some of the chairs are so plush you might fall asleep.

The Pasadena main library has a lot of options - a couple of open air courtyards, one with an expresso cart, and secluded, quiet study areas furnished in dark wood - rarity in demolish-the-old So Cal.

Chesher Cat · Sep 11, 2005

odocoileus said:
I'm always trying new places.

The Starbucks and Coffee Bean at Ventura & Topanga are both open fairly late, 11 or 12 depending on the season. They can both be a little crowded at times. The white noise from a crowd can sometimes be helpful, though.

There's a Starbucks on Ventura, east of Van Nuys that's open 24 hours, if your need arises.

I write at one further east... some of us are there all day - it's nice to have other screenwriters around when you're searching for a word or just want to shoot the sh*t. I also have a home office but writing is so anti-social to begin with I think it's good to be out in the community.

And Blank, Starbucks also has herb tea, orange juice, chocolate milk and water.

Joe Calabrese · Sep 11, 2005

Blank said:
Also, coffee is bad for you, especially the type they sell.

Actually, darker roasted coffees and expressos, including those from Starbucks, has far less caffeine and new studies show that coffee has properties which are possibly good for preventing Alzheimer.

So, unless your talking about Starbuck's coffee being bad for your wallet...

Oh and did I mention is good against Alzheimer and has less caffeine?

odocoileus · Sep 11, 2005

There's a Starbucks on Ventura, east of Van Nuys that's open 24 hours, if your need arises.

Good to know, Chesher. Thanks.

Starbucks has a few varieties of green tea. Couldn't ask for a healthier drink.

Been thinking about a buying a cheap, used laptop that I could bring to the beach or the park. Power supply could be an issue. Manual typewriters don't need electricity, but writing on a manual can get painful after an hour or two. Still, the greats of old only used manuals, so it's not like it can't be done.

I've never tried writing at one of these internet cafes. Some are open quite late, 2 or 3AM. I suspect that these places are overrun by kids playing wargames (not that that's a bad thing, I was one of those kids once, too).

preyer · Sep 11, 2005

hm, laptops and beaches may not be a good mix.

not being very prolific, when i do sit down and write, it's usually at a computer. when i worked in a factory, i spent my breaks and lunches writing, gasp, the old-fashioned way. that is, when people didn't sit down and want to shoot the sh!t b/c, you know, if someone is writing or reading they must be bored. anti-social? maybe a bit, but, you know, after 11 years of listening to the same story time and again, maybe i'm just not interested in what your kid did this weekend, and if i was, i'd ask while we were working side-by-side in the last two hours. but i digest, *urp* excuse me....

haven't had a chance to write today. yesterday, though, i did a couple pages of notes while having a garage sale. here either this week or next, i'm finally buying that convenience store, so after i work my butt off getting things running the way they should, i'll write behind the counter when i can. (as an aside, here in a couple of weeks, y'all'll be seeing a lot less of me, which i know will please more than one person, lol.)

i'm not a slave to electronic devices, though. i've written while waiting in line to have my car e-checked. i've written on the couch in my house, in a pouch with a mouse. seriously, a few weeks ago my power went out, so i wrote by candlelight to pass the time. not as romantic as it sounds, trust me.

i like background noise, like the t.v. or music playing. no distractions is... distracting.

scripter1 · Sep 11, 2005

I write at home,

with the PC sitting on the one of my three kitchen tables that isn't covered with crayons, paper, and popcicle sticks, and trying to hold my two year old son who if he isn't dragging me out the door to play baseball is sitting in my lap sucking his thumb and twisting my ponytail. (he has a hair fetish.)

Usually I stay up way too late working on projects or I go to bed at a decent hour pondering on them only to lie there all night sorting through ideas.
Then, when I'm almost asleep sudden inspiration dawns and I'm up for several hours writing.
Not worth shooting in the morning.

One of these days I will have my own office.

No coffee shops for me, get distracted too easily.

JenniferShay · Sep 11, 2005

Scripter-

I feel you...Most of the time I write at home wherever my 3 year old son hasn't claimed (which is usually some portion of my sectional) and anytime he is watching Thomas the Tank Engine, Harry Potter or Back to the Future for the 9000th time.

I also carry a notepad along with me wherever I go because I tend to get ideas in the most inconvenient writing locations.

pstudios · Sep 12, 2005

Yuk 4 Starbucks, I can't stand the smell of their rancid coffee. What do I know I was raised on NYC's best esspresso and cappucino's, so the generic bitter doesn't work 4 me. I take exercise writing and notebook a lot of places. Here there's a college area coffee shop, sometimes I write or get massively distracted, then there's this diner that has coffee selections(lookout NYC), this one can be distracting also(I run into 1-20 interesting people and get into the wildest conversations ever-most R atrists, writers, wanna be yogis and the list goes on, sometimes we can even share tips). The there's books a million not distracting, because it's set up with more individual seating. Starbucks is avoided by the open minded, avant guarde types(it gets mom, dad and at least 3 screamers). There's a mellow 24 hour casino bar restaurant near me- I do easy writing exercises there and pig out on good junk food. Beach is hard to focus, but I don't get to do that much.

Now to the real point! For my real work I have a writing desk. This is where I do most, if not all of the serious screenwriting. I think there needs to be a spot set aside as a work area-it gets a serious success mode going.

Hey it's 2am. Should I go 4 some thick eggbread french toast and the cassino? HA HA. They need a good health food joint around here.

Jennifer

Boo_Radley · Sep 13, 2005

I do almost all my writing at home, right here on the very computer from which I log on to the internet and spew my cracked viewpoint across horror forums far and wide.

Every now and then I'll take along a notebook to the laundromat, and on the rare occasion when work is slow, I have final draft on the PC in my office.

But mostly I write right here in the comfort of my own home, with my screenwriting books, dictionaries and thesauruses nearby. Not that I really need tehm.

Enigma · Sep 14, 2005

Where?

I guess I'm lucky. I have a deck off my bedroom and a bigger one off the living room. Both overlook my "Golden Pond." My nearest neighbor can't be seen, or heard. I generally get up around 3:00 AM when the coffee machine has done it's thing and sounds “general quarters,” and then I get to work.

I sometimes go out to "secret places" to write, especially in the spring and fall. My favorite is on top of a mountain that overlooks layers upon layers of undisturbed mountains (Forest Service lands) in the distance. I like it there. It’s peaceful. Serene.

When God created the Earth, He was practicing. When He built this area, He was showing off.

There's a nice covered pavilion I use, with electricity, a Coke machine, drinking fountains and restrooms, plus occasionally a pretty girl will jog past, smile, wave and sometimes stop to chat. Very few people are ever there that early in the morning. If I get bored, or stuck, there’s always the 90 acres of gardens to wander. And another pavilion is down by the TVA lake. Oh, and Shoney’s is close by too, in case I run out of coffee and/or when it’s time for breakfast.

I’ve worked in news rooms before, and press rooms, where’s there’s always a din of noise, telephones ringing off the hook and activity. I have no problem with that, provided no one speaks to me, or stares. But where I am now is perfect and I’m lucky, I know it, and I’m thankful. We ain’t got no Starbucks here, y’all, but as long as I have Mr. Coffee and Jack Daniels is my friend, I’m okay.

odocoileus · Sep 14, 2005

Only two thangs come from Oklahoma...

S.E. Hinton and Larry Clark.

Seriously, though, you sound like you're in a great place. Wonder how much of the appeal of the writer's life is the chance to work in paradise?

Paradise for me is the Tidewater, a place on the water surrounded by woods. Jumping rockfish and leaping deer. All the crabs and ersters you can eat.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 15, 2005

Coffee

Blank said:
I try to avoid the sweet caress of corporate retail america as much as I can.
Don't support Starbucks and it's bohemian facade, they just want your money. Also, coffee is bad for you, especially the type they sell.
I digress, maybe it's good for listening to people talk, so I guess you can take that angle.

Whaddaya mean, coffee is bad for you? Coffee is one of the healthiest drinks on earth. It's good for the heart, good for the kindeys, good for the liver, protests against radiation poisoning (seriously), and has more antioxidants than orange juice. People who drink coffee live an average of four years longer than those who don't, and have far lower incidences of several types of cancer, including colon and prostate cancer. And the type of coffee Starbucks sells is some of the very best and healthiest to be found. Don't you keep up with the latest scientific studies?

Of course Starbucks wants your money. So did true Bohemian coffeehouses. So do all businesses. Just like screenwriters want money from producers.

scfirenice · Sep 15, 2005

I write in bed, with my laptop. Almost always

Jamesaritchie · Sep 15, 2005

Work

Most often, I work in my home office, usually sitting in my recliner, but sometimes at the desk across the room. Sometimes I work out on the patio, and once a week or so I work at the local park.

About once a month, I load a backpack and hike into the woods where I came for a night or three or four, and get quite a bit of work done there.

The changes are nice, but in all honesty my home office is my favorite spot to work. It has all the amenities, including food, drink, bathroom, TV, Radio, and CD player.

I have written at restaurants and even at Starbucks, but I found the new wears off fast, and I get much more done at home.

odocoileus · Sep 15, 2005

How true is the story that JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter at work, or got fired for doing same?

Maybe writing seems less like work when you're shirking work to do it.

I get great ideas at work, scribble them down, and then get back on the hamster wheel.

It's been said that every writer should have a room of one's own. Even if it's a storage shed or an abandoned camper.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 16, 2005

Room

odocoileus said:
How true is the story that JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter at work, or got fired for doing same?

Maybe writing seems less like work when you're shirking work to do it.

I get great ideas at work, scribble them down, and then get back on the hamster wheel.

It's been said that every writer should have a room of one's own. Even if it's a storage shed or an abandoned camper.

The J. K. Rowling story isn't true. I do think it's a good idea for every writer to have a room of his own, and that room should have a door the writer is willing to close and lock.

PattiTheWicked · Sep 16, 2005

I used to always write at my desktop PC, but I keep getting all distracted by things like message boards and stuff...

my husband bought me a cheap laptop, and now I can take it and sit out on the patio or somewhere where there's NO internet access, and I get a lot more done.

scripter1 · Sep 17, 2005

Rowlings

had all ready lost her job and so had time to work on this little story that had been nagging at her for awhile.

She would take her daughter to the local coffee shop and write there.
The first two or three books were written or at least planned out there.

About coffee.
i don't care what the newest research says.
I watched my sister perform a science project once in which she tested various drinks by dropping bacon into them.

Coffee blackened and shrivled the bacon.
I'd hate to have that happen to my innards.

odocoileus · Sep 17, 2005

had all ready lost her job and so had time to work on this little story that had been nagging at her for awhile.

She would take her daughter to the local coffee shop and write there.
The first two or three books were written or at least planned out there.

Interesting. But was she drinking coffee? :Coffee:

William Faulkner preferred bourbon and Pal Mals.

The young Hemingway started his morning sessions with coffee and milk and proceeded to brandy and water. His description of his process in A Moveable Feast is interesting. Perhaps it romanticizes the life of the starving writer too much.

Does anyone write under the influence of red bull and vodka? Maybe the staff writers on 24.

Jamesaritchie · Sep 17, 2005

scripter1 said:
had all ready lost her job and so had time to work on this little story that had been nagging at her for awhile.

She would take her daughter to the local coffee shop and write there.
The first two or three books were written or at least planned out there.

About coffee.
i don't care what the newest research says.
I watched my sister perform a science project once in which she tested various drinks by dropping bacon into them.

Coffee blackened and shrivled the bacon.
I'd hate to have that happen to my innards.

God protect me from a beverage that blackens and shrivels pig fat. Soft drinks will eat bacon, so I suppose you don't drink those, either? But dropping bacon into a drink doesn't test the drink, of course. That's just a school stunt. Though this test might explain why people who drink coffee have far fewer problems with cholesterol, blocked arteries, and have cleaner, healthier colons.

I, uh, take your sister hasn't gone on to become a scientist?

Setting - where do you write?

DoubleIT

Blank

DoubleIT

WritingFool

Joe Calabrese

odocoileus

Chesher Cat

Joe Calabrese

odocoileus

preyer

excessively spartan

scripter1

Article Queen

JenniferShay

pstudios

Boo_Radley

100% Death Proof

Enigma

odocoileus

Jamesaritchie

scfirenice

professional multitasker

Jamesaritchie

odocoileus

Jamesaritchie

PattiTheWicked

Unleashing Hell.

scripter1

Article Queen

odocoileus

Jamesaritchie