Monday, December 7, 2009

Writing Is Like...

...Getting in a car when you don't really know where you're going, but you have a credit card with no limit, "the mutha" of Squirt mixed with grape flavoring, and the feeling that you're going to arrive somewhere awesome.

With the top down.




Oh yeah.

Like that.

My Writing Toolkit:
1. Laptop
2. Notebook and pen
3. Pandora (or iTunes) and a good set of sound-canceling headies

What's writing like for you? What's in your writing toolkit?

30 comments:

Unknown said...

It's kinda like driving but without having taken drivers training. Or learning to ride a bike without the training wheels. But once you learn it feels fantastic.

I don't know how everyone can listen to music when they write. I get to distracted and try to sing all the songs!

C. N. Nevets said...

Writing is like roleplaying as a rich and successful full-time author, for an hour or two at a time.

My kit:

Laptop
Mug of Coffee or Tea
iTunes (most days)

...and something to smash any artificial lighting that somebody turns on, if there's even a fraction of the sun still up.

Jen said...

Lately it feels like I'm flying a small plane through a thunderstorm...without pilot's training!!!

Tamika: said...

Tool kit- laptop, notebook, and pen. I haven't tried music yet.

I'd have to agree with Jen, but the dips and turns sure are exhilarating!

Stephanie McGee said...

Toolkit:

Cutesy little journal type thing
Pen
Music

Catherine Denton said...

LOL I loved your analogy and I related to Jen Chandler's too. My toolkit: Laptop, spiral notebook, thick swirly pen, and headphones with instrumental soundtrack (so I don't sing along, Marybeth).

Abby Annis said...

That sounds about right, though sometimes I feel like I'm driving a clunker. :)

Toolkit: My computer, cold Dr. Pepper, notepad and several pens of various colors (you never know what color I'll be in the mood for), and iTunes with my wireless headphones.

Bethany Wiggins said...

You know that great sculptor? Michelangelo? He said when he gets a slab of granite, the statue is already inside. He just has to uncover it. That is writing for me. The story is already there, I just have to put it on paper.

Windy said...

Hmmm, your toolkit seems mysteriously like mine ... how odd... though I usually have about 6 pens in varying colors to help me channel my mood ;)

p.s. nice choice on the car.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

I love this! My toolkit is pretty boring since I'm always stuck at my desk, but all that changes next week! Squee!

Unknown said...

Okay, so my mind just went off as I was reading your list.

1. Laptop
2. Notepad and pen
3. Pandora's Box...

Wait! What? lol!

ali cross said...

I LOVE that analogy! And yup, my toolkit is exactly the same as yours. For reals.

Anonymous said...

So true! Love this!

My Kit:
1. My Journal and Pen
2. Music in a long car drive
3. Somewhere where I can take a long shower.

I tend to think a lot when I'm in there and it's always writing.

Scott said...

My Kit:

1) Laptop
2) Music
3) Glass of Wine (only at night people after a long day at work)
4) Extreme Brilliance (okay, that doesn't happen often, but I like to think it's in my kit).

As for what writing is like . . . one crazy adventure, with ups, downs, and OMG what's around the next corner, a dose of angst, a dose of frustration, and 'do you really need to go out for the 20th time in the last 30 seconds, what are you, Elana reading her blogs???" Okay, kidding on that, but you get the point.

Oh, and my verify word: witre, which, if you rearrange the letters you get what we all do . . . write!

Anonymous said...

My toolkit it about the same. Sometimes, I have a handy arsenal of writing books nearby but it's rare.

Excellent analogy. Now I need to go for a drive!

Bish Denham said...

My toolkit is my laptop, three ring binder full of notes, mechanical pencil, my ancient wonderful thesaurus, maybe something to drink like water or hot tea, silence and some place to pace.

lisa and laura said...

Ooh. I need:

1. laptop
2. blackberry (just in case something amazing happens...)
3. couch
4. huge blanket (I'm always freezing)
5. diet coke
6. twizzlers

Anonymous said...

1. laptop
2. fingers
3. alone-ness
4. candy
5. my writing journal
6. iTunes


LOVE the analogy! Quite true. :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Laptop, iTunes, Earl Grey tea & raspberries!

Elana Johnson said...

Ooh, so many laptops. What do you think writers did before laptops? Actually wrote at a desktop? I've done that for the past three weeks while I've been sans laptop and I only have two words: IT SUCKED.

So thankful for my laptop.

Christine Fonseca said...

Laptop, my fav latte at my fav starbucks with my fav baristas, my crit partners to MAKE me write when I don't wanna, and great tunes...that is my writerly world!

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

laptop, java, music

Carolyn V. said...

Writing is like a great big fat chocolate bar, just waiting to be unwrapped!

I need:
Lappy
ideas
time.

Jennifer said...

Heck yeah!

Writing, for me, is like stepping up to a cliff on the river, looking down and seeing everything bad that could happen, jumping, and realizing that it's nothing but pure awesome.

My toolkit:
1) Laptop
2) Notebook and colored pens/white board with colored markers (depending on where I am) for making notes
3) A low-calorie, non greasy snack that I can eat at my keyboard without making a mess.
4) Music.

Katie Ganshert said...

It's like driving through thick fog, and some spots are warm and others are cold and others smell good and others not so good and the whole time I'm thinking, "Where in the heck am I?" but I'm also thinking, "This is fun!"

Natalie said...

Writing is like reading, except better because I can change the story whenever I want.

I need three things in order to write:

1. A napping baby
2. An entertained toddler
3. A computer

:)

Kristen Torres-Toro said...

Hey, ElanaJ!

Definitely all of those things. Also, a gloomy day and a tall glass of Coca-Cola!

Clementine said...

Wonderful metaphor! Writing is the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. It's like living in an emotional blender but in a good way!

Icy Sedgwick said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Icy Sedgwick said...

I'd like to say my laptop but I find Facebook and Twitter get distracting - no matter how many times I say "Just one more game of Bejewelled" I seem to lose so much time...

So I'd vote for;

1) Notebook
2) Pen (helpful, of course)
3) Classic FM (the rowdier works by Wagner etc. help get the juices flowing)

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