Where Are The Best Places To Write

Where Are The Best Places To Write A year or so ago, Id written a blog post   on  being purposeful about where we write. In 1997, author David Shenk wrote the book Data Smog: Surviving The Information Glut. He theorized that the explosive growth of information made possible by the Internet was both helping society make forward-progress while simultaneously overwhelming us, the individual. He later revisited his original ideas, and posited that some still held true. In one section of the book, Shenk noted that with the use of computers, our geography of learning has become singular. That is, we read, learn, write, communicate, buy, and sell all from the same geographic place: in front of our computer. He was concerned about how well we would retain information, since our memory and retention of information is often tied to the place and situation in which it was learned. By limiting where and how we learn (in front of a computer, reading/watching a screen), we have the potential to lessen our ability to retain information. The same can be said for the geography of writing. Where we write has an impact on what we write. With that in mind, where do you find the best places to write? Is it possible that where you are writing has an effect on how and what you are writing for your blog? 1. Somewhere Warm Sure, the beach would work, unless youre like me and dont really care for a lot of sun. But lets remove the idea of a geographic location from this one, and think instead that warm isnt a place near the equator, but a temperature. According to a recent study, actual physical warmth makes us more likely to buy products because it effects us positively and makes us transfer positive feelings to the product we are buying. What might that same positive feeling do for your writing? Im from North Dakota. Im familiar with cold and how it can distract with numb fingers and shivering. When its cold, Im mainly interested in finding a way to be warm. This probably explains why I drink several cups of hot herbal tea whenever Im writing. Theres something about holding a warm cup and drinking the warm water. Dont ignore the physical nature that may be affecting your writing. A laptop thats too hot for your lap, an apartment thats too cold, a chair thats too hard, a couch thats too comfythese things affect how we write. We love excuses to stop writing. 2. Anywhere But Here The downfall of the freelancer isnt too much freedom, or the exhausting pursuit of work. It might not even be the tight budget. Its most often that innocuous Wednesday when he snaps because his entire life seems to happen within 30 feet of where he eats and sleeps. In other words, he never leaves his house. That kind of situation may be great for manifesto-writing, but not so great for blog writing, especially if youre an extrovert. Sometimes you need a different set of walls to look at, and different background noises, to jolt your writing into finding a different approach. Dont let your thoughts and input be too inbred. You might need to leave the house once in a while. The sheer need to get out and be around other people and not inside your house and inside your head makes the next location seem pretty tempting. 3. Coffee Shop Coffee Shop This is the big debate: do public locations help or distract when you are writing? J. K. Rowling claims to have written her first Harry Potter novel in her local cafà ©. But youll find that writing in a public place can be pretty loud and disruptive. There are probably just as many people who would tell you to avoid writing in a public place by any means possible. Writing in a public location has its moments, though its probably not the time to write a detailed 2,500 word blog post involving several A/B tests and datasets that you want to communicate clearly. Or, maybe it is. It depends on one thing: how do you handle distraction? I generally prefer silence when I write, and that means no music with words (classical is OK). But I can tune crowd noise out pretty well and sometimes welcome the feeling of having other humans around me even though Im not interacting with them. This is a good antidote for those bloggers and freelancers who work alone in the silence of their home too much. But, if people-watching and eavesdropping tend to win out, you might want to skip the coffee shop, the pub, or the morning commuter train. Dont overestimate your ability to not get distracted by activity around you. 4. The Library Writing at the library is just about unbeatable IMHO. (Unless your local library has become more of a noisy social place than a quite place of study.) A classic old-school library is quiet, but there are other people around so you get that Im with humans buzz. You have a wifi connection available, you have books and magazines for research and reference, and, if your library is hopping on the coffee shop trend, you have easy access to sustenance. When I was working towards my private pilots license, I spent hours and hours at the library, studying and working on my sectionals and FAA test questions. I discovered that it was a phenomenal place to work, with the sound of rustling papers and the smell of ink and books prodding you on to writing something great. Everything about the library seems to beckon you to become part of the great pantheon of writers. Dont ignore the library. It isnt just for kids and checking out books. Its a great place to do real work. And lets not forget: the library is free. You can just go there. You dont have to buy anything. 5. At Your Job If you blog as part of your job, youd probably better find a way to make blogging at your job something that works. This may mean you have a cubicle, an private office, or if youre like me, in an open room of desks with the rest of the team. This also means that I got a nice noise canceling headset because it can be challenging to write about content marketing when the developers are talking about code. Sometimes I take my laptop to one of two couches and do a bit of writing there as well. I like to mix things up and just moving from my standing desk to a couch changes my attitude. For one thing, I stop thinking my feet are tired of standing which has a tendency to make me want to hurry and get this post done. The nice thing about blogging at work is that, such distractions aside, youre working alongside the team that your blog is a part of, too. Their feedback, input–even just their presence–helps you work towards the same goal they are with your writing. 6. Where Twitter Has No Name Chrome extensions like Stay Focused seem a strange concoction, limiting the time we can spend on certain sites during the day. Why would we need an extension to keep us from visiting sites that distract us? Cant we just do that ourselves? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I cant tell you how many times Ive been chugging along writing and then my phone beeps and I open a new tab to see if Ive gotten another @mention on Twitter or if theres a new email and andmy thoughts are derailed. It takes a while to get back into what I was writing and recollect where I was headed. Not only is it about wasted time, but sometimes thoughts come in faint wisps that you cant grab onto and youd better write them down before they get away but–beep! You completely forget what you were going to write. Its gone for good. Want to get your writing done? Get away from notifications on your phone and computer.Find a place to write where the Pavlovian beeps of your phone and your computer wont be a problem. Find a way to keep from stumbling into social media sites, RSS readers, and other legitimate content marketing tools you dont need to be using when it comes time to actually write. Have a research time, and collect all your research so youre not tempted to wander about the internet researching when its time to write. Considering writing with pen and paper (or typewriter, in a non-ironic way) to get the first draft done to keep yourself from the distraction of the internet.  Ive started writing with pen and paper for some writing projects just because I stay focused better. My writing output has jumped as Ive moved to starting things out on paper. Dont write where there is a TV handy, unless youre certain you wont turn it on. These are just a few tactics I use to make sure I get my writing done. We each have different distractions, and therefore, different solutions on avoiding those distractions.