Write Now: Write where?

Truman Capote liked to do it on the sofa.

Jonathan Franzen sometimes does it blindfolded, in the dark, wearing earplugs, drinking shots of vodka. Proust famously did it in bed, in a cork-lined room. J K Rowling liked doing it in public, while John Cheever did it in his pants.

I’m talking, of course, about writing: where do you write and does it matter?

When I was a young, aspiring writer, I thought that conditions had to be perfect for the muse to strike – whether I was working on an academic essay, article or appalling short story.
Three essential elements had to mystically align for me to be able to set finger to keyboard – from the time of day (middle of the night), stimulants (black coffee and cigarettes) and company (none). If I ran out of cigarettes, if midnight hadn’t struck or if I could hear my friends scuttling around our student house, all bets were off.

Read the rest at IdeasTap.