A while back a nurse student friend asked me if I needed a comfort zone when ‘back home’ from University and in hospital training placement. When away from University lectures and library facilities. Where did I go in order to study and learn in ‘local comfort’ in my home town? Make my way to the hospital library was, I thought, their imagined scenario. I did get literature from the hospital library. But……In reality it was ‘The Den’, which was a spare room in my house with a laptop for accessing literature and writing essays.
Sometimes a jaunt in the VeeDub Bus to the beach would be nice for reading a few medical books. But the need to access the internet for up to date information and the typed writing of essays too meant the Den was the primary choice for learning. Alongside the internet sources? A pile of books on shelves needed to learn various subjects for holistic nursing needs was associated too. Even when nurse qualified, ongoing learning and study gravitated to sitting in ‘The Den’.
In retirement I couldn’t bring myself to write blogs or planning in that same room. The Den reminds me of the intensity of learning for essential applied knowledge as a professional. When it gets redecorated and feels different altogether then I suppose I could well go back there. But currently, the dining table is a grand alternative place to type blog musings onto the iPad. And write stuff and nonsense or thoughtful reflections with pen and ink for pleasure. Read books? Mostly in the front room, in bed or out and about in the VeeDub or at a cafe table. I wondered how other bloggers wrote their blogs and sought comfort. A set place or simply ad hoc.
Please tap on the individual photos to enlarge.
So here in the above photographs is my mainstay. Usually write early hours of morning or later at night. Candlelight has been known. But if not, then ambient light is a must to get into the zone. No central blaring ceiling light. This here is obviously a staged set up photo snap of what surrounds when sitting and thinking up the typed nonsense produced. This stuff here, and a bit more or less inclusions is the general scenario. This alongside coffee, tea and cake or biscuits. And some music too.
Planned activities of housework, gardening, hobbies and essential getting life’s needs done during the daytime is still essential. But during blogs or simply reading or writing? It truly is lovely being retired!
Gray Summers 
I guess for many who work, depending on their roles, found themselves working from home during Covid and the various lockdowns. We now have a hybrid approach where we split time between campus and home.
Working from home has meant creating barriers between work and homelife, and with marking, it’s easy to be all work. I don’t have different places to work on college stuff and my blog, and other leisure activities, but I do use different tools. I have a work-provided surface pro for work and I have my tablet, phone and laptop for everything else. I also have specific notebooks just for blog scribbles ideas etc.
Currently at home, I tend to work at the kitchen table, but hoping to convert the spare room into an office with a dedicated desk. I guess, I’ll be compartmentalising the different activities I’ll engage in.
Beyond the table, if I’m on my phone, I can work anywhere … in bed (don’t tend to do that too much), in cafes, on buses, trains etc
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That is a very eclectic approach which, I should imagine, creates influences from interesting surrounding sources. After reading your reply it was interesting to think how it would be to write if sitting at the beach outside the VeeDub, at a cafe table, on a train or anywhere other than the created familiar. Somewhere where outside/outsider activity influenced the subjects written. When sitting and focused on, as you say, marking or learning, then the quiet should wash over you. And when writing reflections or stories? Do we tend to look inwards for inspiration? How do authors gather inspirational collectives? By watching life around them, by researching the needed background fillers or just letting the imagination soar with the ownership of storyboard land a product of their own fantasies. I have just thought of Edward Scissorhands and Tim Burton’s imagination as I write this. Now…. where would he sit and produce the amazing words and imagery? All the best Brenda. Happy New…….ongoing wonderful writing. 😊
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I agree, I think inspiration can come from lots of sources … sitting in a cafe, watching the world go by, or just by watching the other people in the cafe. I also like to just relax on the train and look at the countryside. I do miss the seaside/the coast.
For me, the familiar can be useful to focus on writing up the ideas once I’ve captured them in my notes.
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Write them down or sing /play the chords and record them down or they’re forever lost in my experience. Thank you.
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Thats what im finding too … capture them before I lose them.
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Very true. Short term memory is a cruel cross to bear. 🙄
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Today I’m sat at the kitchen table brainstorming for tomorrow’s post, but its an academic theme, so maybe needs less external, creative input. That said it wouldn’t be the first time I have course materials created, then when I go for a shower inspiration strikes and I’ve rewritten the class/lesson.
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When teaching Cognitive Behaviour Therapy based in the philosophy of Mindfulness (NHS led! Couldn’t believe they funded it!) as an intervention it made me truly think about how the mind works. Stress, pain, anxiety, depression and OCD, alongside more, were the Chronic Conditions to tackle. Given Mindfulness is mainly concentrated thinking on here and now, dropping past and future worrisome thought values, it allows the mind to relax. But the mind never shuts up really. I think in that Mindful relaxation status (Mindfully eating, drinking a beverage, looking at a scenic view, candle flame or, as you say, showering or bathing), then inspired thought breaks through. You are no longer focused on the difficulty of planning. And yet the more appealing answer was there all the time probably and struggled to get itself heard. It’s like a crossword clue that is beyond solving at night time. Wake up in the morning and the answer springs in like a lightbulb moment. It was always there on the tip of a little grey cell. Cheers for the reply. Very insightful and interesting.
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I tend to take full advantage of my time spent working from home. As I wait for others to catch up I review ideas and try to formulate the topic. I jot ideas as they occur, usually just a couple words. I spent the majority of the time writing in the evening after the wife has retired and the dogs settled down. Sometimes I write will sitting on the floor petting our puppy (I don’t recommend this as it is most uncomfortable my back likes to remind me). I love your set up, the ambient light, very atmospheric. All the best.
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Sounds like a decent approach with preparation through those gentle invasive thoughts developing into full blown blog subjects. The couple of words idea is familiar. But in lyric use for myself. That is how the simple ‘So the story goes. To where? No one knows…etc.’ words came from. Based on how to develop an idea. BTW. I just took the Swan Mabie Todd ink sac out. Twisted and sticky…but sound. It seemed to have a small ball bearing up in the top end of the sac. One of those little end of barrel twist fillers. Weird! Oh! And bought a Parker Duofold today too. Watched a YouTube video on the same model being taken apart and renovated. I may have to learn how to polish and clean pens like you do!
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Apply talc to the sac, it will act as a lubricant. Do not apply talc that contain corn starch. The tine ball bearing is intended to keep the ink from gumming up. A problem usually associated with ink in areas of high humidity and heat like in Asia. Be warned, once you start down the road of refurbishing pens…
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😆 Repair and renovation are never going to sit comfortably as my middle names. Thanks for that ink sac advice. It ain’t filling though! I will have to replace it. Shone a torch down the barrel and saw a little off set straight metal bar that was attached to the top ‘turning’ filler. The ball bearing was stuck in the sac housing and not floating.
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