A place to write
“Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk—away from any open flames—to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.”
George Singleton
You’ve always been an avid reader. You’ve had ideas floating around in your mind for years about the book you’d like to write. Maybe you have a notebook stuffed full of handwritten ideas and mind maps that you add to every night. Somewhere along the line though, the business of life has gotten in the way of sitting down somewhere and writing that very first paragraph, let alone the other 50,000 words. Pretty much every writer can relate to this, whether they’re writing a business book, a novel for children or a volume of poetry.
In this blog post, I want to give you some ideas for find your ideal place to write. Everyone has their own unique challenges or obstacles to getting their writing done, so there may be suggestions that I make that simply won’t work for you, but I hope there will be some worth a try.
First, think about your physical environment. Some people love writing in a busy, noisy place such as a café, while others simply can’t write a word without complete silence in a soundproofed room! In addition, think about the type of book you are writing. Do you need to do lots of research? This is a crucial point to consider. For example, writers of historical novels are famous for the meticulousness of their research.
Maybe just having access to the internet will do, but if not, you might need to think about working in a library. Many writers favour their local library, where a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook is close to hand, and they can borrow and reserve books free of charge. Others sign up to a library membership, such as to the London Library. Obviously, cost is a factor here – you’re looking at the equivalent of the cost of a gym membership each month. If you think you’d like to work in a library and there is a fee involved, you’ll need to decide if this is a sensible investment in the long run – maybe consider it once the second book in the trilogy has hit the bookshops!
If you are going to spend most of time writing at home, consider:
· What kind of screen you will use. A larger monitor rather than a small laptop screen will be easier on your eyes.
· Whether you have a room (such as an office or ‘writing shed’) dedicated to your writing. Setting up in the corner of the living room might result in too many distractions, but maybe it’s the hustle and bustle that inspires you?
· Ergonomic factors such as your chair, your keyboard, your mouse etc. Will you have a standard desk to sit at or a standing desk?
· Whether your chair is comfortable enough. Consider buying one from a specialist business chair supplier. You should have a good posture when sitting in front of your computer and it should give you sufficient back support.
· The speed of your internet. If you need to constantly refer to lots of different websites for your research, will your internet connection be up to the task?
· The level of concentration you can maintain at home. Perhaps you could put your smartphone in a drawer, put a ‘don’t disturb’ sign on the door, or do your writing late at night or very early while other members of the household are fast asleep?
Maybe having creature comforts around you, such as a kettle to make a cuppa, is important to you. Other writers might need a completely minimal and sparse environment in which to work. The important thing is to try to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. Try out two or three different spaces, such as a ‘writing shed’, a library and a café. Keep a word count. Which space turned out to be the most productive for you? This isn’t the be-all and end-all, as a high word count doesn’t always equate to high quality, but it should give you a rough idea.
Hopefully this blog post has given you a few ideas about different spaces to work in and how you can find that ‘sweet spot’. I wish you lots of success with finding that ideal place for writing. Let me know through LinkedIn which places work or don’t work for you.
September book review
Book: Opening Doors to Quality Writing: Ideas for writing inspired by great writers for ages 10–13 by Bob Cox
Publisher: Crown House Publishing
The book Opening Doors to Quality Writing: Ideas for writing inspired by great writers for ages 10–13 by Bob Cox is an invaluable resource for teachers of English in primary and secondary schools. Building on the success of the companion book Opening Doors to Famous Poetry and Prose, Cox presents a wide range of prose and poetry to inspire children and activate their imaginations. There are lots of practical classroom activities geared towards the specific extracts for the teacher to choose from, and which support the children step-by-step towards quality writing. Cox has clearly drawn from his wealth of experience and knowledge of classic literature when writing this book. The addition of a glossary is also very helpful for teachers who may not be familiar with terms such as ‘zooming in’ or ‘wings to fly’.
Senior leaders, English leaders and teachers will all find this book very helpful when planning an ambitious English curriculum for their school. They may have been searching for books, extracts or poems to challenge their pupils sufficiently and achieve mastery learning. In this book, there are no less than 15 texts to choose from. Authors include Thomas Hardy, Emily Brontë, Walter de le Mare and Emily Dickinson to name a few. There are extracts and poems that primary school teachers may have never considered presenting to their pupils before. Having taught lessons taken from other Opening Doors books by Cox, I can attest that the pupils respond amazingly. They are sometimes able to see messages and themes that I had never even considered before. One extract from this book that stood out was The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins as I love his mystery stories. In the ‘wings to fly’ section, it suggests that the children write the start of their own mystery story by imitating Collins and causing the reader to ‘shiver with apprehension’. The strategies in the book really support the children to write confidently and in ways they haven’t felt secure with before, such as capturing an atmosphere in a narrative.
I would highly recommend this book to all teachers of English working with children aged 10-13. Once the Opening Doors strategies are embedded in your planning, you will be amazed at how much the children’s writing improves. It will increase their confidence with literature, their enthusiasm for writing and generally enhance your English lessons.
Referring to decades
When you are writing, do you sometimes make reference to decades? This can be confusing because you can choose to use words or figures.
Example in words:
When he ran the London Marathon, he was in his seventies.
Example in figures:
The Beatles were an iconic band of the 1960s.
If I had a tenner for every time I've seen a rogue apostrophe in a decade with figures e.g. 1960's, I'd be a rich proofreader. Please, just don't do it.
If you're writing about a particular decade, say the seventies, then write it in these forms:
the seventies
the 1970s
But don't write: the '70s.
Use the form in words when you are referring to the specific cultural, political and social conditions of that decade:
The radical Bloomsbury Group of the twenties included figures such as Virginia Woolf.
Use figures when it simply labels a time span:
Cinema-going became immensely popular in the 1920s.
Comma Splicing
😢 Comma Splicing
Have you ever proofread your carefully written text and found comma splicing? This is a very common error, but it is something that can be easily resolved.
Sometimes a comma is used to join two main clauses in a sentence, but this is an error called a comma splice. Another example of comma splicing is when clauses containing adverbs or adverbials (e.g. as a result, nevertheless, therefore) are linked with a comma.
Examples of comma splicing:
😢 I enjoy reading very much, I go to the library every Saturday.
😢 She had revised for weeks, nevertheless she still felt nervous before the exam.
Correct the comma splice by:
♦ add a coordinating conjunction (e.g. and, but, or, yet, so) after the comma
♦ replacing it with a semi-colon
♦ replacing it with a colon
♦ splitting the sentence into two separate sentences.
If we corrected the sentences above, they might look like this:
😀 I enjoy reading very much, and go to the library every Saturday.
😀 She had revised for weeks; nevertheless she still felt nervous before the exam.
I hope this post has helped you to understand comma splicing.
