A place to write

Where are the best places to write? In On Writing, Stephen King states that above all else "your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream." But many writers have espoused the very public notion of writing in cafes. JK Rowling famously stated in an interview:

"It’s no secret that the best place to write, in my opinion, is in a café. You don’t have to make your own coffee, you don’t have to feel like you’re in solitary confinement and if you have writers block, you can get up and walk to the next café while giving your batteries time to recharge and brain time to think. The best writing café is crowded enough to where you blend in, but not too crowded that you have to share a table with someone else."

Writing in a cafe - a popular choice for many writers.

 I've wondered about the cafe idea, but I've yet to try it. The idea of an endless supply of earl grey is very tempting. I guess the most important thing for me is that I have peace and quiet - which actually means no one wants to talk to me.

So, this is where I currently write.

My current writing place - in front of the fire.

I sit on the couch. The dog usually curls up on her rug, while the cat nestles in her basket. The fire warms me in winter. I get up every now and then to make another cuppa. And it seems to work. Except when there are people around. Then it never works!

Our house is very small, so when we've got a house full of people it's impossible to hide away somewhere when I need to write. So I have a little dream I'd like to share ...

I want to build my own writing space (or more accurately, coerce my partner, Peter, to build it). We live on a small farm so we've got the room.

Whilst getting ideas (procrastinating) for the perfect writing space, I stumbled across this little gem of a blog that has some great pics of the writing rooms of some very famous authors. I've included some of my favorites here:

Edward Albee works on his next masterpiece.

Edward Albee is one of my favourite playwrights, and he wrote one of my favourite plays, 'The American Dream'. I love his old style writing desk and chair. 

Virginia Woolf had a room of her own.

Virginia Woolf had a writing hut in her garden, which is exactly what I want!

Edna's poetic hideaway.

Poet Edna St Vincent Millay had a writer's hut in the forest - even closer to what I want.

Neil Gaiman's source of inspiration?

Neil Gaiman's woodland writing gazebo is almost a perfect match for my little dream.

I've made a board on pinterest to help me dream up my what I want. I think a blend of the following two might be perfect:

Will my dream become a reality? One day I hope to write all about it in a future post :)