Where Do You Write? + NIGHTSPELL giveaway

The giveaway has ended, and the winner is DonnaS, who has been emailed! Congratulations, & thanks everyone for entering.

For the record, most of you like to write or read at home on a couch or other form of comfortable chair. There were also a large number who like to read outdoors on a deck, in a coffeeshop or variation (a public place where they will serve you food and/or drinks), or in bed.


Where do you like to write? For some writers, there is one place only that will do; for others, anywhere they have access to pen and paper is a good spot for spilling out words. I count myself lucky to be in the latter category, but there were five spots in particular where a lot of Nightspell took shape:

[1] The playground

When I started writing Nightspell, I was a teenager; by the time I turned the final draft in to my editor, I had two kids. (Not because of teen pregnancy, but because of a first draft that took a drastically wrong turn and made me give up on the story for many years.) The revision that led to that final draft were written in the moments while my kids were either sleeping or occupied, and there was no better way to get them occupied than to take them to the playground. I became an antisocial mom who pushed the swing while reading manuscript pages and established rules like, “I’ll help you across the monkey bars one time, then you have to go do something you can do by yourself.” Only time will tell whether my kids will end up in therapy or simply become very self-sufficient.

[2] Barnes & Noble

There used to be a Barnes & Noble a few blocks from my home. In a corner near the teen section was a cluster of chairs – several wooden ones and one unbelievably comfortable plush armchair. Walking through the YA stacks would inspire me with the thought that one day I’d have a book up there, and if I got the comfortable chair… bliss. I’d hang out and write for hours. Of course, if anyone else had the comfortable chair first, I’d sit on one of the wooden chairs and periodically glare at him/her for taking up the seat for so long.

Note that I say “used to”; the Barnes & Nobles is now a gym. I’d say unfortunately, but there was an independent bookstore just down the block… and they’re still there. Which makes me happy, even if their chairs are not quite as comfortable.

[3] Jamaica Pond

My #1 biking destination, and a fabulous place to write. I can just let a picture do the explaining for me here:

[4] My living room

Even though I like writing in longhand, there comes a time when I have to sit down in front of a computer, type in what I’ve written, and whip it into some semblance of order (usually with the assistance of outlines, which is why my computer desktop was once scattered with documents called “Nightspell outline,” “first part Nightspell outline,” “new Nightspell outline,” etc.) I actually have a desk in my bedroom, but it faces a wall; even before I had kids, I liked being in the living room better. And now that I do have kids, there’s always the hope that they’ll play in the living room while I get to work. Sometimes that even happens, if by “play” you mean “destroy the resale value of our home”.

[no pic. I kept waiting for a “good time” to take a picture, i.e. a day when the living room was actually clean. It never came.]

[5] JP Licks

A fabulous ice-cream store where I put together the final first draft of Nightspell. I had hired a babysitter for two hours, and my plan for those two hours was: get the manuscript into shape for my critique group. I looked at the space where I had written a vague outline for more stuff happening, and thought, “You know what? Nothing actually has to happen here. We can move right to the coronation.” Deleted and done, and the first draft was complete. I have no proof, but I suspect JP Lick’s red velvet ice-cream had something to do with the epiphany.

What about you – where do you like to write (or read, if you’re not a writer?) Let us know in the comments, and be entered to win a signed, personalized copy of NIGHTSPELL. Contest ends October 5 and is open internationally.