Article by Wendy McCance
Living in a house with a husband, 3 kids, 3 pets and no room designed to use as an office is challenging when you are a writer. As I type this, I am sitting on our sofa next to my husband who is watching the television. One of the cats is racing back and forth through the room I’m in and it is taking everything I have to tune out the noise that is surrounding me.
Thankfully, the kids are doing their own thing so I am not getting the seemingly continuous interruptions that come from kids who have questions or need help on a project or need me to take them somewhere in the car. Even so, many days my only refuge is to go into the bedroom, prop up on the bed to type and pray I can get some work done without a knock at the door.
For many years, I would simply wait for the family to go off to bed before taking out the computer to do my work. I needed a quiet space and a solid amount of uninterrupted time to do my work. These days, I am lucky enough to get more work done during the daylight hours simply because the kids are older and off doing their own thing more often.
I often daydream of having my own office or building a small office in our backyard (like the tiny home craze) to accommodate my need to have a space to quietly write. I think about what it will be like when the kids have moved out and I have hours and days of silence to do my work. These are the times I start daydreaming of writing a book. Quite honestly, I’ve tried several times to begin a book, but there are just too many distractions. When I am inspired, I don’t have a quiet place to write or I have too many obligations preventing me from buckling down and putting in the hours needed.
I wonder what other people do to get their writing time in. Do they have a room made specifically for them to write the great novel? Do they wait until late at night to sit down and type out their thoughts? Do they simply struggle as I do to find times and places that work to put thoughts to paper?
Where do you go to write? Do you have an ideal spot or do you dream of a space you hope to create in the future? Do you struggle to carve out time when the house is quiet? Let me know in the comment section below.
Need some inspiration on where to write? Check out these articles:
The Importance of Place: Where Writers Write and Why
8 Places Where Successful Authors Write
Where are the Best Places to Write?
The Best and Worst Places to Write
Wendy McCance
To contact Wendy McCance about a writing or social media assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]
Latest posts by Wendy McCance (see all)
- Top Parenting Blog Winner - June 19, 2017
- Interview with Claire Cappetta of Clarified Lifeline - April 27, 2017
- Rewrite Time - April 25, 2017
Hi Wendy - I share your sentiments, as well, wanting to have an ideal get-away place to write and gather my thoughts. My writing place is on my laptop on the kitchen table and a lot of times is in the middle of things. It would be nice to just leave it where it is an not have to pack it up each time I’m done.
I like Sherri Matthews little Summerhouse getaway she has for writing. Are you connected with her? Here’s her post on her writing workspace: https://sherrimatthewsblog.com/2015/02/06/my-workspace-blog-hop-secrets-of-the-summerhouse-revealed/.
A little bungalow seems heavenly. But, I’m happy to have what I have and maybe someday I’ll fix up a space when I get more serious about writing, like you, and contemplate a book.
Thanks for the link Pat. I’ll check it out.