Write Place, Write Time

If you look at anything long enough, say just that wall in front of you -- it will come out of that wall.
- Anton Chekhov

Toby Ball

            

I’m not sure, but I bet I speak for a lot of writers when I say that when you have a full-time job and two kids, you write when and where you can.  Most of the time that means somewhere in our house - I have an office in our guest room, the living room couch is comfortable, I write in bed a fair amount. When possible, I have a game on silently in the background so that when I take a break, there is something to distract me for a few moments.  I try to write from 7:30 - 9:30 five nights a week and carve out some time on weekends.

That being said, I’ve also spent time at libraries, coffee shops, restaurants, friends’ houses, cars, various sports fields, campgrounds, airplanes…you get the picture.

The coolest place that I do much writing is our family summer house on Lake Winnipesaukee. My great-grandparents bought the place in the 1930s and I have been up every summer of my life.  The island is a couple of miles long and has a few hundred houses along the shore and a heavily wooded interior. You have to take a boat over, there is no bridge. My grandfather used to write - mostly policy stuff - in a second story screened porch overlooking the water. I do that sometimes, but my favorite place is down on the dock, facing the lake (see the picture). If it looks peaceful, it’s because the kids shooting supersoakers from their kayaks are just out of frame.

                           

Toby Ball lives in New Hampshire with his wife and two children and works at the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. His first novel, THE VAULTS, has been published in six languages. His second book, SCORCH CITY, is out today.

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