A quiet place

I have mentioned before, as I recall, that my favorite book on writing is Stephen King’s “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.” (That is, of course, after the bible of any writer in English, “Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Strunk wrote his book about 90 years ago and White first revised and expanded it about 50 years ago.) King’s book, which is part autobiography, is nearly a decade old now. But one of the things I like most about it is that King is forceful in his views on the use of language and the craft of writing yet he is open to differing views.

One view on the craft of writing on which I concur in part and dissent in part is on finding a quiet place to write. I agree that it is important to have a quiet place to write. But I disagree that a writer needs to physically isolate themself to have that quiet place.

The quiet place is actually in your head.

As I remember, King had a special place to go to be alone when she started his career. Others, like John Grisham I am told, would get up a couple of hours early to be alone and write. All of that is good if it works. Given my work schedule, I can write at different times of the day, although I write the most in the evenings, and the later the better.

But as a writer I am fortunate because of my background as a working journalist. Newsrooms are notoriously loud. It’s not just the white noise and water cooler chatter of any office. In a good working newsroom, there is also the constant sound of television and radio broadcasts as you monitor the competition. If you are particularly lucky as a reporter, you could be assigned to sit next to the police beat reporter and also have the sound of a police scanner in your ear all day.

And while all this is going on, you are expected to concentrate, write __ and write well __ and meet your deadlines.

That is my background and it is why I say the quiet place is in your head. Last summer as I was finishing my first novel, “Fighting Chaos,” there were times when I was sitting at a kitchen counter writing while the hullabaloo of daily family life unfolded all around me. Once I wrote about 350 words in longhand in the backseat of the car while we were taking someone to an NA meeting.

The key is focus. One of the methods I use to drown out the rest of the world while I write is soothing music. When I am at my desk writing, as I am now, and the family television is on and only one room way, I put on earphones, play something on the computer that I like __ but that isn’t distracting __ and work away.

That is what works for me. I don’t have to physically isolate myself to write.

The key is to find what works for you, stick to it and Keep writing.