Sunday, May 31, 2009

Working outdoors

Today's the day I moved that old card table down to the bottom of the garden to see if I can trick myself into working like Somerset Maugham or Roald Dahl.

8 comments:

  1. But not like my Uncle who was trawler man! ;). It is lovely day.

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  2. This kind of thing makes me think of David Niven saying that he liked to write outside but couldn't if there were any distractions: distractions like a plane going over or the sun coming out. So his preferred location was in a corner, facing a large hedge. It was the only way.

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  3. With apologies for minor name dropping - I once met John Junkin at the BBC and I wanted to ask him about 'A Hard Day's Night', but he wanted to talk about writing in his garden shed. He spent most days in the 60s & 70s in that shed, apparently.

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  4. I think I'd find trying to write outside too distracting.

    Bad enough where I am with the view out of the window.

    Luckily it is quiet so I can write rather than watch.

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  5. I always get distracted by the garden birds. Their lives are more interesting than mine.

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  6. smithylad8:20 am

    Russell Davies has this Delicious link to a re-make of George Bernard Shaw's "Shabby Romantic" writing shed - with fold-away day bed, writing table, and a rotating base so you can follow the sun:
    http://www.scottsofthrapston.co.uk/nationaltrust/writersretreat.asp

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  7. Anonymous12:52 pm

    Terence/David

    I still remember the fantastic interview with John Junkin in Q in the late eighties when he said his biggest inspiration was pinning a red final demand above the typewriter.

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  8. Interesting: Eddie Braben, chief writer for Morecambe & Wise, also once said in interview that he worked with a gas bill by his typewriter for inspiration!

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