[stylist] Do you Have a Writing Place?

Thu Feb 16 05:16:41 UTC 2017

When I was in college I would go to the main lounges in my dorm every Friday for a couple of hours with my Perkins Brailler and a handful of sheets of paper. 
LOL! I'm so goofy that I used to keep a list of where I wrote each poem but I stopped that a few years ago.
Now I don't have a set place to write because the muse seldom visits me and my head is so full of clutter that I'm trying to find my way out again. I just write whenever and wherever. I always carry my Braille Edge with me so if something comes to me I can write it down.

Barbara Hammel

> On Feb 15, 2017, at 20:07, Vejas Vasiliauskas via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Lynda,
> Austria sounds very exciting. 
> I typically keep to myself at Starbucks. It's not easy to always hear conversations going on because there are so many people that all conversations can sound mixed. But that is a great idea, to listen and hear the dialogue. In answer to your question about if other people come over, no, not normally and, if they do, I usually would stop what I'm doing to then be able to talk to them.
> I used to write quite a lot when I was younger, and it has recently become much more sporadic. So I have started to do a more free writing, because I have found that it takes longer if I overthink it. I usually think of the basics of the scene, but then just start writing and even if I don't know how it happens, I just let itself finish. 
> For example, the main character I'm writing about now is a twelve-year-old girl who has been homeschooled for two years. Her dad thinks it would be a great idea to invite her former best friends, Tawny and Shell, over. Although I already knew that the friends would be coming over and that their names were Tawny and Shell,  I didn't know what would happen, so I just let ideas come as I wrote quickly and tried not to stop. What ended up happening was that Shell was sick, and Tawny came but was attached to her phone and was texting shady people. I feel I need to write without overthinking it, and then work off of that writing, because otherwise for me nothing gets done.
> I also like your idea about the cds. I've found that although I love music, I'm distracted when I have to go and select a new song, but pre-selecting songs for a writing session sound appropriate. Thank you for that suggesttion.
> Vejas 
> 
>> On Feb 15, 2017, at 16:51, Lynda Lambert via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Vejas,
>> I enjoyed reading about your writing place - sounds cozy and social.
>> Do you pick up ideas from conversations going on around you?
>> Do you grasp bits of dialogue you can use in what you are writing?
>> Do people ask you questions or wonder what you are doing?
>> I would love to hear more about your process and how it works for you when in a Starbucks.
>> 
>> When I had vision, I used to write as I was traveling a lot. I wrote while riding in  trains, busses, planes; I wrote in public places and everywhere. That is because I wrote in journals all the time. Later, I had the raw material that I could review and pull on to expand the pieces into poems or essays.
>> Most of the time, I also did drawings on those locations to firmly set a visual notation in my mind from that place. Later in my art studio I created art work from my impressions and I did writings based on those same notations in my sketchbooks, and even wrote poems and essays from the art works I created. I always had a studio as a base in my travels. I lived in a small Alpine village in Austria during the summers, and then traveled to other countries on weekends. But, my home base was a physical studio in the village where I lived. My first book was a collection of works from those summers of gathering images, conversations, historical notes, etc..
>> 
>> For the past 10 years, everything has changed, since sight loss. I can no longer write in journals and I do not have a laptop so writing on-location is no longer how I work. I still miss, very much, the physicality of writing by hand in a journal or sketchbook on sheets of pristine paper. I miss the feel of a book in my hands, the smell of the ink or the touch of the slick sheets in the book. I had to relearn how to be creative with an entirely new instrument- a computer. I had to learn how to view the world through a new lens - not my eyes, but other senses and new techniques.
>> 
>> These days, I write in my writing studio in my home. It is separate from the rest of my house, very private and secluded.
>> This space is where I write my poems and creative non-fiction works. I require isolation to do my work. Often , I have the radio on or play CDs in the room beyond where I am working, but , otherwise I do not want any interruptions.
>> I also have to begin writing in the very early morning - often at 3 or 4 am - if I do not get started by 8 am, then I won't be writing at all that day. I think best and am most creative  and productive in the early morning hours. I usually wake up with new ideas or imagery and I have to get to it right away or else it may be gone forever.  I use my Milestone to make verbal notes on ideas I want to work with, at times. I imagine if  I was out somewhere and wanted to take notes about things around me, or conversations,etc. I would use my Milesotone.  I have found the perfect place and situation for this part of my life.
>> Lynda
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message----- From: Vejas Vasiliauskas via stylist
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 3:21 PM
>> To: stylist at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas
>> Subject: [stylist] Do you Have a Writing Place?
>> 
>> Hi,
>> It's been a little while.
>> I have been doing much more writing recently. I  sometimes write in my dorm, but have found my favorite place to write is my school's Starbucks. It's also a great place for catching up on other things. I really like it because I'm often on my own in a table but still amidst other people. I'm not really a coffee drinker, but love their steamed milk.
>> How about you all? Where do you love to write the most?
>> Vejas
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> 
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