Writing in Silence?
I wish I could find the quotation and who said it, but of
course, now that I’m looking for it, I can’t. But it was something to the
effect of, “When I write, I don’t want anyone else in the room. Not even me.”
And to that I say, PREACH!
You hear a lot about how professional writers don’t wait for
inspiration, how they write for a certain number of hours every day, no matter
what. Once, an accomplished writer recommended to a group of us budding writers
that we get up early in the morning and “just be in the silence” when we write.
I think my children were still little then, and I wondered, “Silence? What is
this ‘silence’ of which you speak?”
But indeed, silence is golden. Especially for writers. I
grab that silence whenever I can.
You see, I require a house devoid of distractions when I’m
writing. Sure, I’ve seen people with laptops at coffee houses, supposedly
working on the Great American Novel. Maybe they’re killing it, but how? How can
anyone hear a character’s voice when other voices are drowning him out? How can
you believe you’re in another place when you can hear your husband and kids in
the next room?
Oh, I’m not saying this is the way to do it. My productivity
suffers as a result of this need for silence. If only I could learn to drown
out distractions, I could accomplish a lot more every day.
I’ve tried earplugs. They help some. But I’ve decided that
plugs in the ears of a writer are like phones in the hands of mothers with
young children: the second you use them, everyone suddenly wants your
attention. No sooner do I put my earplugs in than someone HAS to ask me a
question RIGHT THEN.
So I generally just wait until the kids are at school and my
husband is at work, and then I get to work myself.
Of course, even when the house is empty, my kitchen office
isn’t exactly distraction free. It always seems that the second I really get
into a story, the dryer buzzes, the dog whines, the oven timer beeps, the
mailman knocks at the door, and someone calls or texts.
Sometimes I dream of those fabled lake houses or cabins in
the woods where novelists go for a week or a month to work on a manuscript. I
don’t personally know any novelists wealthy enough to afford such a getaway.
Maybe if they had a getaway and could write the novel in such wonderful,
sustained peace and quiet, they’d make enough money to afford the cabin or the
lake house?
Ah, the catch-22s of writing….
That's really good advice. I REALLY need the quiet when I'm editing. First drafts I often write in front of the TV. ;)
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing! You obviously have much greater focus than I do!
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