Journal logo

My Favorite (Unusual) Places to Write

Born from a Necessity to Get the Words down When I Can

By David HarfordPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
Like
Photo by Nikita Kachanovsky on Unsplash

When it comes to my writing, life gets in the way. I get up, help get my son ready to leave the house, take him to nursery, drop the wife off at work, head to work myself; finish work, entertain an 18-month-old, have dinner, put him to bed; sit down, I should write, but I'll relax for a minute, I'm shattered, and this cold is taking its toll. Before you know it it's bedtime and the day is over and it's another day you have failed to write anything. Of course, you can always set the alarm and get up early. But I struggle with this as I am the worlds worst morning person.

As a result, I have had to find time to write that wouldn't have thought of before. Being able to write on my phone has been a huge help for this. It has opened up opportune times that didn't exist for me before. I have to say that I've never been very good at writing in a notepad. Instead, I have always preferred to write straight onto my mac. I'm not sure why exactly, writing in a pad has never stuck.

Here are my favourite places where I love to write, that are, for the most part, on my phone. For if I didn't take advantage of these writing spaces, I'd struggle to get much written at all. If you're short of "traditional" writing time, these might help.

In the Bath

I used to always read in the bath until the Facebook addiction took over. I would stop reading for the aimless scrolling of the feed. Then when I made a concerted effort to stop looking at Facebook, I would read articles on Medium. And that, of course, led me to write in the bathtub.

The bath is such a relaxing place. (Especially with a generous pouring of Neom, Scent to De-stress real luxury bath foam!) There are no distractions, and the gentle thrash of water impact into you and the walls of the bath is calming.

In Bed

Writing in bed is an obvious one. But I'm talking about when your wife wants to go to sleep. Meaning the light has to be off and, of course, a laptop is out of the question due to the tapping of the keys is an annoyance. You could, of course, stay up and write. But the tiredness is making the writing of succinct sentences impossible. Plus, you want to lie down in comfort, with a hot water bottle. It's pitch black other than the gentle glow of your screen. I turn the brightness right down and have night shift on, and depending what app I am using I switch on night mode. It's like your in your own little world, with zero distractions.

In the Garden

I love writing in the garden on a warm day. It's bliss. It's hard to be on your laptop outside due to the sunlight making the screen unseeable. Not a problem with a phone screen. Sitting outside on a beautiful day seems to recharge the batteries of your soul. And even better after a good writing session. A nap.

On the Toilet

I'll leave this one to your imagination… Good for when you want to finish off a scene or edit yesterday's writing.

At a Service Station

Stick with me on this one. I'm sure we've all been there, on a long drive when without warning an idea pops into your head. It's so exciting when it happens, but then reality hits, you're driving. But you have to get this idea down on paper before it disappears into the land of forgotten ideas. An inaccessible place where they all go. Eluding us and taunting us safe in the knowledge that the idea was the idea, the one that was to bring fame and fortune. Sorry, lost myself there for a second.

Anyway, you pull into the next service station park up and get the idea down. But that's not enough; you need to start elaborating on your outline. Service stations are like cafes in a way, so many people from all walks of life intersecting. It's great for character research.

advice
Like

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.