Write Here or Write Away? Where to Write?

Desks over the years, & writing shed with desk made by hubby out of scrap wood

I can write anywhere. I can write nowhere. It all depends on what I’m writing.

I love the notion of a writing shed, a heaven to retreat to and get lost in the world you are creating. For years I was quietly envious of author’s photos of their writing sheds, and dreamed of having one of my own. Then I got one. We moved into a new house which the agents described as ‘having potential’ and ‘scope of improvement’ and the opportunity of ‘putting your own stamp on’ - which I don’t have to tell you means, it a bit of a mess. But it was a mess with a shed. A shed that my husband kitted out with furniture he made from salvaged floorboards that were on their way to the skip. It’s a steampunk style writer’s paradise. It’s perfect. But I can’t write in it! I can edit it in. I can world build in it. But I can’t seem to write a first draft in it. It’s too close to the house and every increasing to-do-list. 

Writing shed, bookcase - made by hubby out of scrap wood

To write a first draft, I tend to need to be out of the house, so I write away. In a café (cliched I know).

I can write in libraries, or in the car waiting for the kids when they’re at the various after school clubs. But once the first draft is finished I can write anywhere. 

I can write here – at home, even writing through building work, through kids practising musical instruments in the same room. I can even write whilst cockroaches hiss at me (no lie, this week I was actually writing about whilst being hissed at my sons pet roaches!) But this is only when things are going well. If I do get a creative block, then I need new stimulus, and it back to writing away – to anywhere with coffee and heating. 

Where i was working this week, with cockroaches, geckos, turtles and a selection of bugs for company

So to write here or write away? For me it really depends on what I’m writing and where about on that wip journey I am.