I didn’t realize I had a favorite writing place until recently. It is a very comfortable spot for me and I feel more peace in this spot than any other place in my house. I will back up a little in order to tell the story of how I realized where my favorite place was.
A few years ago, I received a recliner from a family member. The chair was in good condition and was one of those chairs you see on TV that can lift you up to an almost standing position. Although it is powered by electricity, it has a battery back-up. The chair was a perfect fit and was placed at the back wall of my living room. That year, I finished three books, but I should add that it was the first year of Covid lockdown. There was little else to do as my jobs closed their doors.
One day I came home and my living room had been rearranged, without any input from me. My chair had been moved to the middle of the living room and it was in a spot where anyone walking behind me could pull my hair, scare me, knock on my head, etc. I was not comfortable sitting in that location. I was usually anxious and distracted. So, I moved my laptop from this area into my bedroom.
That sounds like a good thing, but I found I spent more time on the laptop watching Netflix and videos. I found many excuses to do anything but work on writing my books. I did start doing lots of videos teaching pronunciation skills to people in other countries or videos on human interest subjects. But no real writing happened, or if it did, just a few sentences every few weeks. My point of interest totally changed and I stopped writing anything in the living room.
In the meantime, I began to doubt my ability to write at all. I felt intimidated by just about everyone who was an author. I just didn’t think my writing was any good and felt almost embarrassed to let any other author read my work. I had been working on the third book in a series for over four years and I just could not seem to finish it.
I began to complain about my location in the living room. I was feeling more and more irritable and uncomfortable to the point that all I did there was watch TV and fall asleep. I lost all confidence in myself. One day I came home and my chair had been moved against the back wall of the living room where it had been a couple of years ago. I felt like I had come home. It was such a ‘freeing’ feeling that I can’t describe.
I began to write almost immediately. I finished that book I had been working on and began to write some short stories again. It is amazing how just a change in location in my house made the difference in my ability to start writing again. This is my favorite spot and I hope to keep writing in this location for a long time to come.
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