Dear Writer: Episode 41

We got right into it as usual with these short episodes, and started with a quote Ashley found while doing some research for this week’s show. The quote claimed that, “People generate more ideas for novel and useful solutions to creative problems when they’re at home than in any single other environment.” Ashley posed the question, is this true for us? We both came to the conclusion that while the implementation of a creative idea is often carried out at home, ideas definitely aren’t limited to being at home. Sarah said she finds ideas come to her most when she is actively thinking on a problem, so this depends where she is when she has the time. A car-ride is just as good a place than anywhere else! Ashley commented that she often gets her ideas at work, but also when she’s in bed about to fall asleep.

The next question was whether we are ‘creatures of habit’ when it comes to our writing. Sarah said that although she tries to be—creating a habit has worked well for her in the past—at the moment it’s all about having time to write, and the when isn’t so important so long as there’s a fair chunk of time set aside. Ashley always tries to write at night, either in bed, at the table or in her writing room. But like Sarah, she thinks the main thing for her is not to be interrupted.

We then talked about locations, and what happens for us when we try to write outside of our usual spot. Sarah has had a lot of success with this lately. She found while experimenting for this podcast that although the lounge is chaotic and not a great spot for her, the outdoors can work wonders. Ashley found that it’s a mixed bag. When she visits her parents for the weekend, she finds it a little tricky as she has no dedicated writing space. But conversely, at work after hours, there are no distractions and she is able to focus well.

We then approached the topic of writing at cafes. Sarah gave one hundred and one reasons why she has never tried this, but would like to one day in the future despite her reservations. Ashley has written in cafes on the odd occasion, though usually it was a spontaneous thing rather than a planned occurrence. We were both self-conscious when it came to the idea of writing in cafes—Ashley found this pressure to be helpful whereas Sarah believes it would stunt her creativity.

We discussed writing outdoors. Sarah (as alluded to in an earlier question) has found the outdoors very helpful when writing. But, as Ashley pointed out, there are many potential problems with writing outside that tend to make it a little tricky.

Finally, we talked about writing while on vacation. Ashley can’t write on public transport, but has had some success on occasion writing at night or early in the morning. Sarah mentioned it depended for her on what type of vacation she was taking. Surprisingly, she tends to write on epic adventures, because there is a wealth of downtime while travelling from city to city.