The writing life is a glamorous life... (Moved: Novels to Roundtable)

I'm not finding a hut, but I love Dahl.

Myself, I have a zoo keeping gig to sustain me while I try to get a writing career off the ground (I'm expecting a decade at least....) So I'd just laugh at anybody who says writing is a glamorous life. You come home smelling like dead fish and bird poop every day and just TRY to feel glamorous.

Pfff, that's the lies they feed us unpubs so we don't try so hard.

I fully expect a life of leisure with feather boas and a full waitstaff in my mansion as soon as I get my fist contract (even if it's with an epub or small press).

storygirl said:

Pfff, that's the lies they feed us unpubs so we don't try so hard.

I fully expect a life of leisure with feather boas and a full waitstaff in my mansion as soon as I get my fist contract (even if it's with an epub or small press).

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I see you're aspiring to live like Barbara Cartland, with someone to take dictation while you lie on your chaise longue and just talk your books out loud.

nevada said:

I see you're aspiring to live like Barbara Cartland, with someone to take dictation while you lie on your chaise longue and just talk your books out loud.

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Finally, someone who gets me.

When I get my novel published, I'm going to turn Hubby into my sexetary. =)

As for Dahl's little writing hut-- sometimes we writers are the most creative... at coming up with excuses for not writing. Misdirected energy. It's not how or where one writers. It's about putting words to page. If you were working on project for a current paid job (aka day job) then you'd deal with the air conditioner blowing cold air down your shirt, the mouse with the broken clicker, and the tunes from next door that you just have to block out. Sometimes we writers have to recognize procrastination for what it is.

Now, where Dahl chooses to write has really nothing to do with living large. Some people prefer a certain environment-- such as the well-worn but damn comfy chair. Like old blue jeans that just fit so nice. You can own nice clothes, but still prefer the old blue jeans, familiar and comfortable.

nevada said:

I see you're aspiring to live like Barbara Cartland, with someone to take dictation while you lie on your chaise longue and just talk your books out loud.

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I was hoping for a buff scantily-clad man to bring me cappuccinos, fix me lunch, and supply chocolate at the right moment. Maybe even a hand massage too.

Am I the only one who sees the Writing Hut and thinks it looks like the perfect place to write?

Now that the link is working for me, I like it! There's basically nothing there but the chair, and no interruptions. Sounds perfect to me.

dempsey said:

Am I the only one who sees the Writing Hut and thinks it looks like the perfect place to write?

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I wish I had a Writing Hut.

Oh wait, does Panera count?

dempsey said:

Am I the only one who sees the Writing Hut and thinks it looks like the perfect place to write?

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You're not. I'm practically salivating.

However, I've finally gotten over the necessity of having a particular place to write. All I need is my Neo (which I carry everywhere) and I'm good to go.

Now finding time to write... that's a whole different matter. Stupid college.

dempsey said:

Am I the only one who sees the Writing Hut and thinks it looks like the perfect place to write?

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Looks like the perfect place to catch some horrid 19th century disease to me.

wandergirl said:

When I write, I feel uncomfortable if the font's wrong, or the wrong size, or I can't move my mouse arm in exactly the right way, or if I'm too hot or cold, or a million other criteria that are really just ways of procrastinating.

NOW, when I find myself dawdling, I will just take a look at Roald Dahl's Writing Hut: A reminder that being a famous author ain't all camera flashes and autographs... and that the places where you write aren't as important as the places you write about.


Click the photo for a tour through the hut.

Bonus topic: what would you include in the Writing Hut of Your Dreams?

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Writers tend to be self-absorbed and introspective. Throw caution to the wind and write on a ski-lift. Naked.

I think it's important to note that the hut is actually custom built in his garden! So, his lifestyle did not necessarily correspond to his preferred writing environment. The former could be quite luxurious, you know.

I had this dream once where I found myself on the shore of a vast lake at sunset, surrounded by beautiful pine forest, you know, the kind where there's little undergrowth so you can walk around between the trees and the ground is cushioned beneath your feet with a covering of soft needles. The trees extended off into darkness. The water was calm and pebbly near the shore. There was a desk or table or something near the lake, under the branches. I knew it was a Great Lake I was looking at. I felt this was MY private area that I could return to whenever I felt like it, as simple as stepping out my front door; it would always be there, just for me alone. My secret place.

I want that place for my writing. Only I imagine I'd spend more time wandering through the trees than actually writing...

Any place that could give me the safe, private, alone-but-not-lonely feeling this dream gave me would be good enough for me.

I don't want a hut. I like being able to write anywhere. My book was written in four or five different countries, on buses, planes, in coffee shops, at libraries, while my kids were watching youtube videos in another window of my laptop.

Keep your jabba. I want my mobile mojo.

wandergirl said:

Click the photo for a tour through the hut.

Bonus topic: what would you include in the Writing Hut of Your Dreams?

Click to expand...

The only thing missing is the built-in toilet in the chair. That would have been perfect.

My ideal writing space would be a setting which accentuates what I'm writing about; writing about a haunted hotel? Find the right spot on one of those ghost hunter shows, book a plane ticket and get the room no one else wants to stay in (for good reason!) for six months. Writing a short story about surviving the wilderness? How about a bag full of laptop batteries and a nice spot by a waterfall?

Though the dining room table or doctor's office or Applebees work all the same .

Heaven is a Hut

The Hut's the thing. Never mind what's in it, it's the removal from the house that's great.

I don't have a hut, I work at my own desk at home, and to anyone else (including otherwise supportive husband) that means 'sitting at home, available to be interrupted, talked to, asked about missing socks, called to the phone and generally messed around'.

I want a hut. With barbed wire outside it. And machine guns. And a minefield.

I'd probably still be rubbish, but I'd have less excuse...

My perfect place to write would be if i could get huge armchair into our bedroom, that'd make it pretty good for me

That said, i do get envious of my Dad; he and my mother converted the little wash house at the end of their garden; there's books covering every inch of wall and in there my Dad has his desk and comptuer.

I'd need a computer, but I agree, that does look like a very nice place to write

Yes...I have this saved. He is the person who inspired me most. My hero. I love this reminder of 'writing place' too. I go to this hut in my mind. (-;

here's my Hut - it's my office in the corner of my painting studio

I don't think I could face a wall. My hut would need a huge window with an interesting but non-noisy scenery.
Right now, I have plants close to my face, masking a view of: high-rise buildings, a noisy road and a river. The river is what I like.

My perfect hut would be near a quiet beach. Each time I don't know what to write or I feel like stretching, I would go for a walk along the beach and come back refreshed and ready for more work.