Monday, July 13, 2009

A Home with a Hideout

This is a great article in the New York Times about novelist Roxanna Robinson: For a Writer, a Home with a Hideout. Robinson has a study, but she depends on the former maid's quarters to get her work done:
“I did everything but write in that room,” Ms. Robinson said. “I paid bills. I printed things out. I sent faxes. I was connected to the Internet.

“The assumption is that writers can write wherever they can sit down,” she added. “But the main thing you need as a writer is a sense of certainty that you won’t be interrupted.”

Distance from the Internet is part of the issue, but so is having a space that offers minimal distraction. For a writer living in New York, distraction can be the unwelcome flip side of inspiration.

Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong. My study isn't as nice as Robinson's, but it's loaded with distraction. I need a hideout.

1 comment:

Paul Epstein said...

Now seems an opportune moment to offer my favourite Roxana Robinson story:

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99dec/9912robinson.htm


Paul Epstein