Home » blogs » OLL Interns's blog

Where I Write: Mike

OLL Interns @ Thu, 2009-07-30 12:32

Mike, also known as "mclemens" on the forums, is a card-carrying member of the Typewriter Brigade. He used the Beast, a 1951 Royal typewriter, to write 80% of his 90,000+ word 2008 entry!!! Though, as you can see, his family members often "help."

"Sitting here at the furthest point in our home from my sleeping spouse and children, I sit early every morning and try to get about 4-6 double-spaced pages banged out before school and work and other lifetime commitments.

Let's be frank, this is a terrible place to do anything sane. It's cramped, it's cold, and my butt usually starts hating that chair after 45 minutes or so. I have to clamber over an assortment of toys, laundry baskets, and my snoring dog just to get there. Luckily, NaNoWriMo is the complete opposite of sane, so this is the ideal spot for me to work. There's no distractions -- there's no room! -- so it's just me and the typewriter and the paper and the words, locked in heated, beautiful battle."


Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
 
Mike Clemens
Fri, 2009-07-31 08:57
 

With multiple kids in the house, distractions are the word of the day. I'm pretty good about being able to type through them, but it's still much easier to work when everyone else is fast asleep. 2008 was an amazing success in terms of word count, and I'm finally making an edit pass on the draft and cutting out at least 10-20% of the words. Easy come, easy go.

I'm with you on the backup office, Kate, though for me my backup is my real office -- I spent lunch break in my job typing away in the lobby of our building pecking away on my svelte little Skyriter. That little machine made up the other 20% of the novel.

reply
 
Kate
Thu, 2009-07-30 13:45
 

Mike, your space reminds me of mine at our cottage, where I am writing this. Substitute a laptop for your manual typewriter; substitute two teenagers (who have set up a "water pong" table just behind me as I write this -- their underage version of beer pong -- and are playing it, ping pong balls bouncing off my keyboard, and my head, occasionally)for your toddler; keep the Trader Joe's bag, and you've got my space, no need for photo.

I have learned to tune out a lot of what goes on around me, so Water Pong, and a blaring stereo, register vaguely in the background, but don't really bother me. If it gets too crazy, I escape to my backup office: a journal and a pen in a patio chair on the back deck, with a great mountain view and a couple of horses for company.

reply

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
More information about formatting options