Is it a Solitary Life?

Friday 20 April 2012 – Goodness me I can’t believe we’re twenty days into April already. We’ve all heard people say that as we get older, time passes by quicker. Perhaps it’s true; mine seems to slip by at an alarming rate, and today as if to prove this, my iPod is playing mostly songs from the eighties. I’ve lost track of how many, Stock, Aitken and Waterman, sampled and pop pulverised tracks have been blurted out this morning. At the moment Donna Summer is playing ‘When Love Takes Over You’.

As usual I’m sat at my desk writing. and having my morning espresso before I tackle the word count for the day. Unlike some writers’, I don’t  have a set amount of words I feel the need to achieve daily, yesterday I was happy with 2,155 and the day before just 853. (this posting has 423).

The life of a writer can be a solitary one. Some need total silence and no outside stimulation to perfect their craft: I once chatted to an author from Andalucía who moved her desk away from the window, so it faced a blank wall. She told me the view, although beautiful, was so distracting that she couldn’t focus.

I also know two writer’s that share the same space; both work alone on separate projects, but bounce ideas off each other during the day, and don’t seem to find the sharing of a workspace off-putting.

For me I have music playing, okay it’s at a discrete volume so as not to invade my thought process too much. I have spoken about this with other writers’ all of whom said they’d be unable to concentrate. For me it’s the opposite, I find silence crushing; almost physical. I do however edit without any music playing.

As I mostly write non-fiction for magazines, and therefore spend a lot of time doing research, so a musical backdrop can enhance a somewhat dull few hours of web browsing. I guess whatever job we do, we all have our personal preferences when it comes to our work space. I guess I just like to share mine with Kate Bush, John Lydon, Toyah Willcox, Tiziano Ferro, Jessie J, Peter Murphy et al.

So with the weekend approaching, and No Doubt shuffling with ‘Waiting Room’, to break the eighties cycle I’ll leave you with another photograph, I spotted this sign in a restaurant window, and had to question the use of the uppercase D and R.

Have a good weekend, see you next week.