Jess Mallett – 23rd January 2012
There’s one by my bed, one on my desk, one on the kitchen table, a couple in my bag and several piles scattered around the house in case I get ‘caught short’ as it were. I’m talking about notebooks of course! Since I began the happy SCA ritual of carrying a notebook and pen everywhere I go, I’ve started noticing some writing habits I’m picking up.
I identified boredom as a key factor many blog posts ago. I’ve also mentioned that public transport is an ideal writing environment. If I’m on a train I’m often on my way back from visiting friends in Sheffield. Consequently I smell of hangovers and look like I’ve spent a week in a crack den. No one is going to talk to me and I’ve got a couple of hours to kill. I’m probably feeling guilty about the less than satisfactory amount of work I have done over the weekend. (I spent yesterday hugging all the toys in the Disney store for Christ’s sake!) I’ve got about ten deadlines looming. What was I thinking?! I have to write. But it’s not all trains, guilt and boredom.
I’ve noticed that people can make me want to write. I tend to surround myself with funny people. If someone makes me laugh, I immediately become desperate to be their friend. In fact, I’ll follow them round like a sick puppy until they develop (at the very least) a mild tolerance for me. Once I’ve persuaded them that restraining orders and legal action are a waste of money, we’ll usually be pals. Funny people are inspiring people. My ‘funny’ often runs parallel to other people’s ‘weirdos’. If you’re my friend and your reading this, I mean it as a compliment, you massive freak. How on earth can you be expected to write original stuff unless you latch onto people who will look you in the eye and, in all seriousness, ask questions such as “If you were a type of dinner, what dinner would you be?” It sounds like a vomit-worthy Oscar acceptance speech, but friends are often the greatest inspiration.
