[stylist] Do you Have a Writing Place?

Thu Feb 16 12:27:08 UTC 2017

Vejas,
I think you are so creative and dedicated to your craft.  It has been nice 
to see you developing over the years since I first came to NFB Writer's 
group. It's wonderful to hear about how you do it and where.
In every phase of our life, we change and the changes bring us new ideas and 
new ways of working. Right now, what I do works best for me. My  19-year old 
great-granddaughter is now in college, and I love hearing about her 
activities and watching her develop skills. She is in a course, Critical 
Writing, that is exciting and I love to hear all about it. She is a full 
time university student and she is also a manager for Calvin Klein - a 
business major who loves art and writing.

Like Shelley said, I would be very distracted by everything around me 
because I can no longer jot things down as I experience them. I don't do 
Braille, so if I need to do any kind of notes and I am not at my home, I use 
my Milestone. I just love it.
It is very small, portable, and I can even wear it around my neck or put it 
in my handbag. This little credit-card-sized device  serves as my "memory" 
for all the little things I need to keep track of. It  has five different 
folders in which I can file information. And, no monthly  fees for me.

We all have to find what works best for ourselves and our situation at the 
time. I would like to find what kind of portable device would work for me so 
that in the future I could do a fellowship at an art colony like I used to 
do - but for now, I am happily doing all my writing in my home, at my 
desktop computer. Thanks for sharing your experiences at Starbucks - I love 
to hear about how other writers are working. Lynda

-----Original Message----- 
From: Vejas Vasiliauskas via stylist
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 9:03 PM
To: Writers' Division Mailing List
Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas
Subject: Re: [stylist] Do you Have a Writing Place?

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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