A couple of days ago I went to the car wash. To pass the time, I brought a hard copy of my latest project, which I was hand editing. I was there for an hour and was insanely productive. With the comfortable chair and their rocking soundtrack that was a mix of classic country, 70s rock, and 90s alternative, it was a magical creative experience.
It reminded me of a story from a few years ago about novelist Amy Daws who cured her writer’s block by writing in the waiting room of her local tire store. She became the unofficial mascot of the store with her own reserved seat. And she wrote a book, Wait With Me, about a writer who likes to write in the waiting room of a tire store and finds love there.
My time at the car wash prompted a creative habit I had forgotten. I like writing with noise. . Keep a list of habits that work for you so when your life changes, you don’t forget. It’s also good to have creative habits in rotation. When you get tired of sitting at your desk, go to the car wash.
Sometimes when you are searching for inspiration, try changing location.
Have you ever wondered why so many people like to write at coffee shops? There is actually science behind it. There is a noise sweet spot between too loud to be distracting and just loud enough to help you focus. Having noise that your brain has to work to block out actually makes you more creative.
There’s even an app called Coffitivity that mimics the noise of a coffee shop. I used it when I had to write at an office job that was library level quiet.
Some people use music as their ambient noise. Lots of writers like to have playlists for each project that evoke the mood and the theme of the story they’re working on.
What is your favorite kind of noise to work with?
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My favorite noise to write with is birdsong and waves hitting the beach.
As I write this, I’m in my church’s adoration chapel, which is super quiet except for the air conditioner.
The past couple of years have been insanely busy – retirement from corporate world (yay!), family health challenges (boo!), and relocation back to my hometown adjacent (the next little town over). I haven’t written except for morning pages but now I’m getting the message I am a writer, I’ve always been a writer (and an actor and a musician) so get on with it already!
So I will and see what happens. Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Who knows?
The noisy a/c is silent and birdsong is filling the chapel.
Happy Saturday and happy writing.
Cynthia,
What a beautiful way to start the day and feel inspired! Sometimes instead of noise the best thing for us is contemplative silence so that we can connect back to ourselves and hear God’s inspiration. And yes you are a writer! This comment is lovely and moving.
I love the idea of an adoration chapel. It makes me think of the large, log-cabin type chapel at my youth summer camp. It had an emormous window looking out into the forest.
I prefer quiet. And my car wash is a drive through that takes all of 3 minutes.
Terry,
One of my many favorite things about writers is that we approach things differently! There is no one right way. I
I learned to love noise as a theater kid. I had to study during rehearsals and dance breaks. My college roommate marveled that I could sing along to music while I was reading history.
I usually want things as quiet as possible, but the sound of my dog snooping around the room never bothers me.
I have the best dog in the universe! I think everything he does is great! I love when he talks in his sleep.
As a rule, I’ve never liked to have noise when I write. But aging throws curve balls, so maybe I need to try it again and see what happens. Regardless of the type of music, I have typically found it distracting, rather than helping.
I’ve also found it fascinating all these years how writers describe their success writing at coffee shops, etc. I’ve also tried writing in public venues and found that quite distracting as well.
It’s funny this topic comes up now because I was just giving myself orders to start carrying a spiral notebook to work & use my 30 minute lunch to write (in my office, door closed). I’ve resisted the urge up to now because I think “30 minutes? Some days you can’t even form one sentence in 30 minutes!” But then I remind myself “If you walk away one sentence ahead, that’s more words than you started with.”
But I’ve GOT to find more ways to get writing time in my schedule. We’ll see how it goes…
I’m a people watcher so I find coffee shops super distracting. There are never many people at the car wash and they are only staring at their phones.
I relate about finding time to write. There is never enough time. But 30 minutes a day is a great time slot! If you stick with it, you will be surprised how much progress you make!
When I worked overseas, I would often find myself in airports for hours waiting connections. I like to sketch the people I saw and make up stories about them. The sketches were bad and I’m sure the stories were worse, but it did fill the time and was probably good practice.
Marshall, I can people watch for hours! And also eavesdrop. People are fascinating! And I’m sure your people watching fed your writer brain.
LOL! On the occasions I people watch it doesn’t kick in my writer brain. Instead, I’m constantly evaluating the way people walk (do they walk with their feet turned out to the side? Are they over-compensating on one side?
Weird, I know. But my lifelong passion is the desire for people to be mobile on their own 2 feet their entire life, and unfortunately, people develop walking habits that they don’t even realize can have negative consequences over time. (I’m not a clinician, I just want to see the number of knee and hip replacements go down).
That is not a bad wish!
I’m a longtime Coffitivity user. My other preferred sound is a YouTube of New York nighttime street sounds. Reminds me of when I lived there and was taking the town by storm (or a mild shower).
Love it! I never thought to use YouTube. Very cool!
Mild shower, my eye!
🤣
When I’m drafting, I’m usually listening to music, earbuds on of course. I’ll create a playlist and run it over and over again, until it becomes part of the background. If I need something non-verbal, I’ll listen to Synthwave or a movie score.
When I revising, it might be a movie score, “brain music” (like AlphaWave) or similar.
Coffee shops are great to write in–I used to do them regularly, usually with a writing friend or an even a small group. We’d set a timer for say 45 minutes, and write non-stop, take a break, and, then, repeat.
These days, I usually write in my “office” in a back room at home, or, if I want to change things up, on the living room couch.
Brain Wave Music is a great idea! Thanks for the suggestion.
I alternate between my desk with my huge monitors, the breakfast table in the morning while I drink coffee, my bed, and working at my dad’s house, sitting beside him in bed.
I find when my energy is lagging, taking a walk for a break and then changing location, even if it’s in the house, helps me refocus. Especially when I’m doing admin.
I guess I’m one of the nerds here. I prefer a background of quiet. I find I can hear my characters, the sound of their voices is unique to each and their pitch changes as they go through their roles in the story. Background noise, even a Brahms lullaby, distracts me and takes me out of the story.
I guess I lived in the world of frenetic too long. I relax in the quiet.
Me too, quiet.
There’s nothing nerdy about being quiet! Everybody’s brain works differently, and we all write in different ways. This is why I love this discussion. There is no right answer, and it’s fun to learn how everyone approaches noise and creative work.
I am complete quiet girl. I also regularly write in the bathroom. It’s large and the tile makes it cool and it is totally quiet.
I don’t write in the bathroom, but I do some of my best thinking in the shower or bathtub.
My preferred aid is https://asoftmurmur.com/ adjusted to rain with a little thunder.
Very cool! I love the sound of rain, thunder, and lightning. I currently have their natural thing right now! A rainy Saturday afternoon is perfect for writing, brainstorming, and some organizing!
Lindsey, this is kinda off topic but your story about Amy Daws reminded me of a funny experience at our local Les Schwab. One day while I was waiting for new tires, a character in my series appeared behind the counter. I did a double take b/c he looked exactly like my imaginary guy, as if he stepped out of my brain and went to work selling tires.
For two hours, I surreptitiously watched him from the high top—same mannerisms, same easy way of joking with people as I’d portrayed my character doing in scenes.
Had I seen him during previous visits but didn’t remember him? Did my subconscious store him away for future use? Maybe. Several years later, when I needed this particular character, had my subconscious popped him up ready made?
Are tire stores unrecognized fertile ground for writers? Need to do further research…
To answer your question, I like quiet to write. In public, I people-watch and eavesdrop.
I choose actors for my characters, and one of the tellers at our local Wells Fargo looks like she could be the sister of the m c from my first novel. I have to keep myself from staring at her when I go into the bank. It’s even more strange when she’s the teller who helps me.
I used to be able to write with dramatic movie scores going in the background. 15 years later, and music is too distracting. I tried a coffee shop once. That’s always been too distracting, and I don’t care for the coffee smell on my clothes when I get home. A couple of years ago I was able to write profusely while hubby watched football, but that doesn’t work anymore either. The ambient noise from my whole-house humidifier is enough for me.