I took the photo above a couple of years ago when we were visiting the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville, AR. The Walton family built this spectacular art museum in a beautiful wooded area with ponds and trails. The picture is such a simple one but it intrigued me. I studied it for some time prior to snapping the photo.
The woman is obviously snuggled in bed with her cat and a book. She must love her cat very much to allow it to snooze on her stomach and for her to have to hold her book aloft in order to read it. My question for you today has two parts. First...
Where is your favorite place to read? Do you like to read in bed as the woman in the picture? Or do you curl up in your favorite chair or the end of your sofa? Do you take a book outside in good weather and enjoy the natural surroundings, the birdsong, the breeze and the sunshine? Do you have a special window seat in your home that is the perfect spot to read the latest mystery or romance? My own favored place to read is in my leather chair, feet on a footstool with a cup of coffee or tea beside me. Maybe a lemonade in the summertime. Maybe you like to go to the Reading Room at your local library where it's quiet and no family members are around to disturb you.
Where is your favorite place to write? I'm sure there are myriad answers to this question. One that comes to mind is the kitchen table, which is exactly where I wrote on an electric typewriter when I classified as a newbie, or wannabe writer. Some writers are fortunate enough to have an office in their home where they have a great set-up with everything a writer might need. The computer can stay on the desk. It doesn't need to be removed from a kitchen table so the family can eat. Others might claim a corner in the bedroom, or perhaps a place in the lower level of a home, maybe even an attic room.
Still others leave their home and write in a public place like a coffeehouse or the coffee corner in a large bookstore. I live in a university community and our coffeehouses are filled with students with a laptop on the table, coffee next to it and maybe a snack. A few might go to the library to find a quiet corner where they can write in longhand in a notebook or on a laptop or tablet or even on their phone. Maybe you like to write outside on the beach or at a picnic table or on your patio.
It really does not matter where you read or where you write. The place that is most comfortable for you is the one you'll likely choose over and over. The important thing is that you read and that you write. All good writers should do both. Whether you have a cat curled up on your stomach is entirely up to you, however.
NOTE: Notice the simplicity of the picture. It needs no gew-gaws or objects or other people to draw the eye away from the main focus. When you write, simplicity often brings the strongest stories or essays. Too many frills cover up the good stuff!
My favorite place to read has always been at a table or desk. Scholastic, matter-of-fact reading. To get an answer. Usually, my reading was in that environment. Reading was rarely for my own enjoyment. My brain injury happened just four months after my twenty-fourth birthday. That hindered and stopped me from reading. I was more concerned with learning to talk and to walk again.
ReplyDeleteMy writing attempts are more simplistic. I like to write wherever I am able to get WiFi service. In the past, it was at home, near my large, bulky home computer. Now-a-days, with my laptop, I can go anywhere to write. It is better when I can connect to the Internet, for many reasons, but mostly for research.