This morning I’m writing from the couch; I find that I don’t have a designated physical space for my writing so much as a preferred configuration that is fairly portable. I need particular spatial relationships to write–not particular spaces.
It’s morning, so sustenance is breakfast (two slices of normal-sized bread, toasted with peanut butter, a cup of strong coffee); at other times of day, it may be different, but coffee is generally involved. Warmth is provided by a cherished quilt made for me by a dear, dear old friend. The Monkey Tamer is my current mindless knitting project, handy for those moments when I’m struggling to maintain my concentration on some aspect of the project at hand. The distraction is just that–something(s) to take my eyes and mind off of the computer and onto something entirely unrelated. I’m currently exploring a special Cooks’ Illustrated featuring “perfect” versions of comfort foods. I might even try a recipe or two.
All of this surrounds the center, Scrivener running on my not-so-trusty old Gateway laptop. The machine doesn’t matter; I’ve got Scrivener installed on my office computer, my Mac Mini, and this old thing, and my project files are stored in the cloud so that I can access them anywhere. What matters is the software itself. If you’re not familiar with Scrivener and you do this thing called writing, you might want to get acquainted: I find it to provide the perfect spatial relationship for drafting any thing that involves words.
This is the Windows version–the version on the Mac is infinitely sexier–and you can see the general configuration of the screen. To the left is the Binder, providing ready access to all of the elements of my current project–drafts of various components, images, web links, research documents. I’ve got the screen in split mode right now; I wanted to look at my crudely annotated image while I wrote. The split screen is useful for all of the reasons it would be useful to see two items side by side while writing/researching/editing. I can do all sorts of things in this interface, and the interface allows for me to remain inside it, keeping my attention when computing on the writing project at hand. Perfect and portable spatial writing relationship…for me, anyway.
Anita DeRouen 