What’s my ideal writing environment? I think back a little bit and I realize I’ve had a few “environments” that I’ve blogged in before, and I think I’m starting to find one that really fits.
I used to keep a journal through junior high and high school. I did a little bit when I started college too. I’d typically hide off in my room, or just find a small corner where nobody could find me and just write. I really didn’t need a long time, just having a little pocket of quiet did the trick. When I got into college I really started to appreciate the power of music. I would queue up Harry Connick Jr.’s _25 _album and it seemed like no matter what was going on, when that simple opening chord was laid down soft and gentle and lingered, I was in another world. I could explore unhindered.
Blogging hasn’t been as easy. Since I’ve done a large amount of “technical” blogs with walkthroughs and tips, I would piece them together as the day passed. While some code was uploading I’d take a few screenshots, put together some directions, and move on. That worked, but was rather disjointed. Sometimes I’d do the blog posts late at night after my wife went to bed. The quiet had returned, the focus had returned. I was tired enough that I could let my thoughts linger without the natural barriers and over analysis that I have a tendency to do during the day. But I would get tired and things would drift out too quick.
So here I am. It’s about 6:15 in the morning. Kids won’t be up for _[hopefully] _another 15 minutes or so, and it’s still dark out. Midway through this post I thought about the music again and pulled up my Norah Jones playlist (she helps me unwind after a long day at work) _[mental note: need to refine the list a bit more to remove the newer upbeat charts]_ and it feels like I’ve entered that place again. The kitchen table has a cup of coffee, a bottle of canola oil on it (that won’t stay long), and my tablet from my morning devotionals. The words start to flow better and things can linger more. I like this. I’ll have to make sure to make a mental snapshot to return to it. It’ll be interesting to see how this model works for more of my technical type posts when I get them going, but I suspect that the results will be good as well.