I keep some odd hours.
Part of this comes from the delivery jobs I had for about twenty-five years. There were some days I had to get up at four in the morning to get to the warehouse and start my run. The advantage was that some days I would be getting off work in the early afternoon when a lot of the nine-to-five workers would still be on the job.
Of course, the disadvantage was that I would have to go to bed around nine at night to get enough sleep.
During those delivery days I kept a spiral-bound notebook on the seat beside me and when I had to wait on a customer I would write. I’d also write on my lunch break.
These days, since I’m retired, I do most of my writing at night/early morning. It started because the soft, cozy King-Size bed my late husband Darryl and I loved for so many years makes a near-perfect writing space. Spread out the notebooks and reference books, music on the radio or streaming from the smartphone, laptop propped up, plop down on the bed and I’m ready to write!
And during the first couple of months after Darryl died, being on that comfortable bed made me feel a little better. Not so alone.
Now, I’m a lot better, and doing the writing on the bed has actually made me nostalgic for my college days when I’d sit on my (not as big) bed in my dorm room with notebooks, homework, too much beer, the radio playing and the future spread in front of me. And I love getting up after about eight hours sleep knowing that I’ve already finished the day’s work for that day!
The bed, of course, is not my only regular writing space. I still use the living room table regularly and I’ve been going to the downtown library or a little coffee shop in the afternoons with a spiral-bound notebook and a supply of pens. (Nobody can hack those!)
And this column was written in a notebook at the laundromat and is being typed-up in the laptop sitting on the big bed in my Brother’s guest room while the rest of the house is asleep!
So, how about you? Do you write in any unusual places? Keep unusual hours?
I’d love to know!
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This blog may be a bit late in June as I may be away from my computer for a bit! (Nothing dire!)
Jeff Baker’s fiction and non-fiction have appeared in the online ‘zine “RoMMantic Reads” and the Amazing Stories site. His World Of Three Moons story “The Ghannidor-Ra” has just been published in “Schlock Webzine”:
https://www.schlock.co.uk/pb/wp_938b3718/wp_938b3718.html
He blogs about reading and writing sci-fi, fantasy and horror around the thirteenth of each month in this same space. He lives with three cats who are active most hours but sleep when he writes. Jeff regularly posts fiction on his blog https://authorjeffbaker.com/ and wastes time on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ and Mastodon (as “Mike Mayak.”) https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@MikeMayak