A New Bloom

Great minds think alike.Or something.I’d like to believe that Gabriela’s selection for this week’s QOTW was divine intervention. If you are a regular follower of this or any of the other spaces I invade, you may have seen this photo yesterday on Facebook. I mentioned that Madame Muse had struck and I was writing again. Yay, right? I open my email today and here’s the invite to post a photo of our writing spaces. Kismet.Full disclosure: I need noise to function well. I don’t mean the ‘I can’t hear myself think’ sort of racket but background noise. My work and writing space is in my front room, where I have a wonderful view of the neighborhood and the TV. I can see the mountains in the background (I live in Southern California, about 220 miles from Las Vegas). I also often stream music at the same time. I sit in one of the kitchen chairs and there are pillows in it. I use a fold-up desk and two screens — you’ll note those cables running to the left; they connect the computer to the external screen, which is sitting atop a dual CD recorder and a box. Real office furniture is overrated … and never nearly as interesting.I’m often working and writing at the same time – not exactly, but there’s usually a quill and papyrus (okay, okay — some weird paper and a mechanical pencil) nearby for when I can’t stand it anymore and have to write something.As I craft this post, I am being assaulted by the monsters (my two pups — they are featured prominently on my personal Facebook feed), the sound of the lawn people (I think that might make for a good story title …), cartoons on the TV, and Chillhop Cafe streaming music:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx6t6E24SSMAnother perfect day in the cave …If you need some inspiration for your next epic, be sure to check out DIY MFA. There are plenty of ideas to spark your Madame Muse.So how and where do you work best? Do you need silence or sound? What happens when you don’t have the right (or ‘write’) atmosphere?