Great essay in Literary Mama today called “This is Where You Write.” It’s about a woman and her lost love — a desk.
The one I chose was enormous, a Mack truck of a desk with a marble slab on the top, filing cabinets, drawers, the whole enchilada. If this desk had a voice, it would have been a deep baritone like James Earl Jones and would have said, “This is where you write. You hear?” And of course, I listened.
Several years and four or five desks later:
If somehow I could go back down to that apartment on the Rio Grande … I would tap myself on the shoulder and say, “Hey you. It’s me. Whatever happens, don’t get rid of this desk.”
Where are you writing, right now? Right now, I’m writing on a 4′x6′ utility table my husband made out of plywood, used wall sheathing, and two-by-fours, that hulks in a corner of my basement. The edges are a little rough, and there are a couple of screw heads sticking up, but it’s a workhorse and it makes me feel like working.
By the way, there’s a writing prompt with the essay:
Describe your favorite writing spot. What is it about the surroundings that encourage or inspire you to write? If you have no particular spot to call your own, describe how you make do as you take time to write.
You can send in your response:
Please email your responses of 500 words or less to “reflections (at) literarymama.com” with the word “writing prompt” in the subject line so that we know it’s not an essay submission. We will accept responses until the 15th of each month and offer our feedback on each response privately before the end of the month.
Sounds like a non-scary way to get a little feedback. Nice!
I write wherever I can. At home I usually write on my bed, propped up with fluffy pillows. However, I wrote in airports this past week with ear plugs so that I wouldn’t begin typing what others were saying. I wrote on the airplane. I’ll write sitting at my email computer, which resides in a computer armoire in the corner of our living space. It isn’t the place; for me it is the mindset.
That’s a great way to think about it.