I was just watching The Book Show (in the UK), and they have a section where they look at a writer's room. William Boyd was on today, and he has a fantastic room to work in, as do most of the people featured. I love looking at these, and really envy them in that they can shut themselves away and create. It is fascinating to see how they work, as some, (like Boyd) write in longhand, with a specific pen, while some use a computer, others a typewriter. They are surrounded not only by books, (as you'd expect), but by artefacts which can either help them, or mean something important to them. Boyd said that you can often find a manuscript in the fridge, as if there was a fire, it would be safe! Michael Rosen our Children's Poet Laureate, is surrounded by all sorts of weird and wonderful things, some of which relate to his dead son. Some like to be secluded and shut away in silence, others like music on, and a view. Some people don't even need a room, but write wherever they are, on planes, trains etc. I just wondered if any of you who write have a special room, or study which is sacrosanct, where you can be alone to create, and how you work.
I would really love to be able to write for a living. Unfortunately real life intrudes, with having to earn a living to keep body and soul together. I have the room in my house to make such a wonderful study, but I would never get to spend the time in it that I would like, shutting myself away from the world. I also have a tendency to gaze out of the window a lot :D. I would need a secluded windowless room I think, if I was reliant on getting stuff out to survive on. I know that's a cop-out really, as a real writer would move heaven and earth to do what they love, like Trollope, getting up early every day to write his novels before he left for a day's work at the Post Office. Oh well, we can but dream.
http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk/the...liam_boyd.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/writersrooms
I always used to like the thought of an old-fashioned study, in all its Victorian-style grandeur, and it looks better when it's cluttered and disorganised, (as that's how I tend to work), but I'm warming now to the modern world, with its clean, bright style and the aid of technology. I always used to love the actual physical act of writing in long-hand, but I am moving into the 21st century now :D. I haven't written anything for years though, much as I'd like to.
What do you think?

