It’s me, with the blue laptop, in the coffee shop

I write with Professor Plum in the drawing room with the candlestick.

Erm. Wait. That’s Clue. We’re talking about writing.

Most of my writing happens on some computer or another. The only time I write by hand anymore is when I am jolted out of a dead sleep with a story idea and I’m too dazed to figure out how to work a computer. Sometimes I’ll turn on a lamp, but usually I use the flashlight and notepad I keep by my bed for just such occasions.

I have a behemoth of a Dell desktop computer that sits steadfastly in my apartment and allows me to write when I’m home. I also have a pretty blue Dell laptop for write-ins and coffee shop visits. This particular laptop was purchased not for its memory, processing power, graphics card, or storage (all sub-par to a computer geek) but because it had the most comfortable keyboard. I bought and returned two different laptops before settling on this one because it was the only one I liked to type on. And did I mention it’s blue?

I suffer from severe beverage abuse when I write. If I’m writing at a coffee shop, I’ve more than likely consumed at least one espresso drink (or possibly a magnificent chai latte from our favorite real-life café: Mirth). In the evenings at home, I am never without a glass of red wine by my side. It loosens the inhibitions enough for me to let go and just write.

I mostly write at night. I have to. My creative juices never seem to start flowing until after the sun goes down. But it also has to do with my day job. Oh yes, the dreaded day job that most writers have to have. I work all day, do my extra curriculars after I get off work, come home and eat dinner, and then I have a small window of time before sleep in which to write. Sometimes two hours. Sometimes only one if I want to read before bed.

It’s not enough, but I work with what I’ve got and make up for it on inspired weekends.

With all of these various elements, perhaps one should invent a writer’s version of Clue in which the player discovers where, when, and with what the author is writing.

It was Stephen King in the Library with the AlphaSmart.

Hmm. Nope. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. I think I’ll stick to writing and leave the game invention to the experts.