RTW: Seasonal Changes
This week’s Road Trip Wednesday question posed by YA Highway asks:
How does your writing (place, time, inspiration, etc) change with the seasons?
The time, inspiration, and many other aspects of writing really don’t change with the seasons for me. Especially if I’m in the midst of writing something (as I am), then the weather outside, or what time it gets dark, has no bearing on what I write or when I write. The only thing that might change is the location. The house we live in is old, and the study was added onto the house a number of years after the initial construction. I can only presume the central heating/air conditioning was installed prior to the addition, because whoever did the extension work did not extend the heat/air ducts. As a result, the room is cooled by fans, and heated by an electric heater. Should the weather get extremely cold (which it can, at least by North Carolina standards), or extremely warm and humid, and my meager attempts at temperature regulation fail, I might evacuate to a part of the house that benefits from AC or central heating. It’s hard to type when you’re shivering under a blanket, or pouring sweat! But no, I’m not tempted to sip margaritas on the porch during the summer, or rent a lodge in the mountains during the winter, as inspirational as those locations might be.
Are you lured outdoors on a warm summer’s day, or perhaps you have a winter home in the Bahamas? How do the seasons affect your writing, if at all? Join the Road Trip by blogging your answer and linking to it on today’s YA Highway article.
Same as you. I tried staying in my office, but with no central I moved out. And my writing space doesn’t change either 😉
A winter home in Bahamas would be nice, right? Though I don’t think I would get any writing done LOL
I don’t know… I kinda like winter… at least when I can be warm! Seriously, though, there’s something cozy about being warm inside while there’s snow on the ground and it’s dark at 5pm. I can write in those conditions. With a hot cuppa tea. 🙂
The room with my computer definitely gets colder than the room I included in my post. I’ve been known to type away dressed in thermals, fleece, and gloves. But that extreme is usually for when the power’s completely out.
Wow, that’s dedication, Angelica! I can’t imagine trying to type with gloves. 🙂
I get kind of slacker during the summer but my location or inspiration never changes. Neither does the time of day until I’m so into the book I’m writing that I just can’t stop.
And I’ve got heat where I write, but no matter what,from fall to spring, my hands freeze. I need fingerless gloves.
I’m not a huge fan of summer, so I don’t mind holing myself up inside and pretending it’s not there. Especially when it gets really warm. I guess I am affected by time of day. A combination of having to get up for work and getting older means I can’t pull all-night writing sessions. There comes a point where I *have* to sleep, or my writing becomes completely incoherent. 🙂
I’m like you–I keep on keeping on, no matter what the weather. I used to sometimes go downstairs in the winter and snuggle with my cat by the fire. But that was before my son moved out and I got an office of my own. Now I’m a writing hermit.
Mmm… fireside writing. That sounds really cozy! 😀
I normally have the same writing place. The desk or sofa at home is just fine for me. I’d like to go out and write in coffee shops but it means actually walking into town first and wasting writing time.
Still, I’d like to try out a writing holiday someday. See if it helps with the inspiration and motivation. 🙂
The idea of writing in coffee shops sounds fun, but I doubt I would ever do it. Like you, it would waste too much time actually going to one; and then there’s too many other people around. And the extraneous noise. It wouldn’t work for me.
Are you a fellow North Carolinian? I moved to NC after years in Florida, so when the cooler months roll around, I end up writing in bed with a million blankets wrapped around me! I’ll get used to the different climate eventually.
Since I love me some hot weather, in the summer I tend to write outside instead. Then I can work on my tan at the same time!
I’m originally from the UK, but I’ve been living in NC for nearly half my life now. I don’t mind colder weather, but I prefer it when the winter is generally mild (as it was this past winter), with perhaps a week of snowable weather (i.e., where the temps and precipitation levels converge in the right way to produce a goodly amount of the white stuff). Autumn can be really pretty here when all the leaves are changing. Summer lasts a bit too long for me, though. 🙂
Oh Lordy I cannot write when it’s too hot. My first two years in the dorms with no AC were unbearable. I do however like to snuggle up in a blanket to write.
Also I can’t write outside. Too many bugs and dirt and stuff.
Great post thanks for sharing!
Yeah, I think I’m with you on the writing outside, Leslie. And we live next to farmland, so there are some veeeery interesting smells around that are not really too conducive to writing. Especially in summer! 🙂
Ha! I used a Mucha painting for my post too! 🙂 They’re just too perfect for this topic. Okay, I’m trying to feel bad for you and your chilly/sweltering study, but I’m just envious that you live in an old house that actually has a study. That in and of itself sounds inspiring. Our place? Not so much.
I find that the seasons do affect my motivation more than anything. During the winter we have so many less hours of daylight and that makes it more challenging to feel inspired and motivated. Thankfully I’ve managed to work myself into a writing schedule/routine that helps combat this issue. It’s tough, though, working on a story set in the summer by the ocean when there are flurry warnings!
It’s not the ideal house, and not the ideal study… but it’ll do. What it lacks for in heating/cooling, it gains in space to put all my stuff.
I can’t imagine living somewhere that stays light and warm throughout the winter. I remember with great fondness English autumn and winter times, when the nights would draw in early. Around Christmas, it would start getting dark around 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. I have such a vivid picture of sitting in our living room watching a Christmas cartoon on TV. It’s getting dark outside, but we haven’t yet drawn the curtains. The room’s sole illumination is from the lights on the Christmas tree, which I can see reflected in the windows. That picture is like a mug of warm creamy chocolate on a winter’s night to me. 🙂
Doesn’t affect my writing, though… 🙂
Ahh I’m the opposite. Maybe because I grew up on an island, if it’s hot and sunny outside I have to fight the urge to just be in the sunshine. I hate staying indoor when it’s a beautiful day outside!
I guess I’ve never really been much of an outdoorsy sort of person, Samantha, so I don’t feel the pull of warm weather. I like a bright cheery summer, but I’d just as soon sit inside and write than bask in the sun.
Like you, my home doesn’t offer that much of a buffer from the outside temperature, at least in summer. When it’s hot and humid, I really struggle to write at my desk!
Hot summers are bad enough, but when you have high humidity too, it’s the pits. It saps the energy out of you and you don’t want to do *anything* let alone write. Unless you find a nice air conditioned room. 🙂
I love the idea of having an office. I have a desk, sure, but it’s not for writing. It’s for gaming. Most of my writing is done via laptop at a coffee shop. 🙂
This house has many flaws, but one plus is that I have a place to put all my books and write in relative peace and quiet. Even if gets really cold in winter, and stifling hot in summer. 🙂