Debbie Taylor finds out what women writers do to get into the zone - and discovers the emergence of a new species that no longer requires Virginia Woolf's famous 'room of one's own'
Findings in a nutshell
(Mslexia survey of 1,582 women writers, May 2015)
As a child, I was keen ornithologist, spending hours peering up at trees and into undergrowth, noting down species' names and behaviour. This survey reminded me of that - from the first questions asking about your optimum time for writing, several different bird species could be identified.
The vast majority of you - 74 per cent - are larks: you prefer writing in the morning, including the 26 per cent who write best between six and nine. 'If my writing is the first thing I do, that makes it more central to my mind,' one woman told us. 'By writing early, before the "red pen" is awake, I can produce a lot more,' said another.
For the majority of early risers (65 per cent) this was to avoid daytime distractions, but a significant number of larks (42 per cent) felt the proximity to sleep helped access unconscious influences - and quite a few of you (17 per cent) made a point of recording or trying to recall your dreams as part of the creative process.
There was a certain overlap of robins (31 per cent), who sing by day and night, who ticked many boxes, often dividing their time according to task: 'Write in the mornings. Rewrites in the afternoon', was a frequent comment. But a significant minority (27 per cent) are avowed owls, writing from nine pm onwards, into the wee small hours.
One in three of you, however, felt the time was immaterial: you write when the opportunity arises, often dictated by the demands of family and/or day job responsibilities. A sense of what your creative lives might be like comes from brisk answers to questions about writing space, with one in three (the same one in three?) saying they don't have a desk and 'write when and where I can' and 29 per cent saying they didn't care what their workspace looked like, provided it served their purpose. Which made me wonder whether the advent of the laptop means we no longer require Virginia Woolf's 'room of one's own'.
In ornithological terms, these represent the cuckoos and gulls of the literary world, who lay their eggs in any nest, or use a hollow amongst pebbles or on a rock ledge. 'Sometimes it's my desk; at other times it's the kitchen table, or my lap in the living room, or my bed.' Contrast this to wrens, who construct elaborate domed nests in the depths of a secure thicket: 'I'm in a private writing cave and I just love that'.
In fact two out of five of you might be classified as wrens, who care about their workspace ambience - many of you require a tidy (30 per cent) or an untidy (three per cent) desk in order to concentrate, or spend time titivating their working nest before settling down (14 per cent) - and one per cent arrange their desks according to the principles of feng shui (indeed, we provided guidance for this in the first edition of Mslexia).
Apart from the no-nonsense contingent who knuckle down to it whatever their surroundings (as an incorrigible wren, I salute you!), the majority of you try to make your workspace conducive to creative effort (see above). 'I have a toy panda that scowls at me if I don't work,' commented one woman. 'A Buddha to enhance Zen-like focus', 'a chunk of rose quartz to counteract bad vibes from the computer', 'a sequined dragon with two elderly lady dolls on his back' and 'a lucky owl' were other items wrens found essential.
The vast majority (70 per cent) of you prefer 'quiet or actual silence' when you're writing - 'Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. And more quiet. And no interruptions of any kind. And quiet.' - or control the sound (21 per cent) by playing music, radio or TV in the background (Bach and Vivaldi are favourites). And a few (hopefully not the owls...) like to play extremely loud music while writing.
Mindful of Beryl Bainbridge's consumption of fried eggs and takeaways whilst in media libris, we asked whether writing affects your eating. Around half simply eat and drink as usual, but over a quarter consume more hot beverages - tea, overwhelmingly - and 17 per cent survive on snacks. And sweeties: liquorice, peppermints and, of course, chocolate. Then there was the one in six who eats almost nothing during a creative jag: 'I forget to eat, then wonder why I'm ravenous!'
Predictably, wrens don't stop short at interior décor. Large numbers use a special notebook (33 per cent) or writing implement (26 per cent) and are extremely proprietorial about their equipment - 'I have my own computer and don't let family members touch it' - though gulls, in particular, are prepared to use whatever gizmo, bus ticket, pencil-stub or envelope is available. 'This used to depress me until I learned that many of Emily Dickinson's finest poems were written on scrap paper.'
Sadly, we didn't investigate what difference this makes to the writing itself. Are wrens more productive than cuckoos? Is all this attention to one's surroundings a meditative preparation or a distracting procrastination?
Talking of preparation, most of you (73 per cent) habitually dive straight in to the writing - 'I just sit down, open a notebook and... er...write. It's not that flippin' difficult' - though one in eight likes to take some exercise first ('I walk, fast, with a Labrador') and 21 per cent start by reading something inspirational or related to what you're working on. Other preparations include 'morning pages' (i.e. writing as soon as you wake up, ten per cent) and various creative writing exercises (also ten per cent) - 'I meditate for a few minutes to tap into the subconscious, then do some free writing to loosen up the writing muscles'. A few work on motivation too, with four per cent speaking affirmations, seeking encouragement from a friend or partner, or doing motivational imagery exercises, such as the ones described on p12.
One interesting phenomenon: many of you mentioned having lovely studies and/or beautiful notebooks that you never used, choosing scruffy notepads and a wandering cuckoo-ish existence instead. Could this be because you don't value your creative work ('I cannot write in expensive notebooks at all'), or to avoid the pressure associated with 'proper' equipment ('far too aspirational and pompous')? â-
DEBBIE TAYLOR is the founder and Editorial Director of Mslexia. Her 'historical paranormal murder mystery', Herring Girl (Oneworld), is out in paperback now. 'Like nothing you've read before' ( Grazia); 'Brilliantly plotted, beautifully written' ( Daily Mail).
IN THE ZONE
(quotes selected from 1,582 survey reponses)
'I have a log-burner that I light with drafts. I paid for it with winnings from the Mslexia poetry comp. It feels like a companion'
'If all the tea disappeared from the world, so would many people's ability to write and edit'
'If I'm stuck I may take a nap and it usually is enough to get things flowing'
'A black pen atop a perfectly aligned stack of notepads has to be in place'
'I work in a chilly and dusty room in someone else's house that has neither a proper desk nor a comfortable chair'
'Always use the same laptop in the same chair in the same room'
'I have an altar of creativity with a tarot card, some shells, bits and bobs related to writing and my aims'
'I work in different places around the house, but always bring along a tea-light, music, and a cup of tea'
'When we turned a spare room into a writing space I felt so much pressure'
'I have playlists for each large project'
'Well-meaning friends have given me beautiful notebooks but I don't want to spoil them'
'When I'm feeling particularly challenged, I need the flow of ink from my grandfather's Parker 51'
'Macs rule for writers. Anyone who says otherwise is a sad loser. Also, planning your novel on the back of a scruffy used envelope is The Only Way'
'frozen chocolate chips out of a small shot glass is my writing food of choice'
'I have very few 'spoons' (www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/) to start with, so they have to be saved for precious writing'
Mslexia is a quarterly independent magazine dedicated to the promotion, improvement and publication of women's writing. The word itself means women's writing (ms= woman, lexia=words) and the magazine tells you everything you need to know about exploring your creativity and getting into print. A quarterly masterclass in the business and psychology of writing, it's the essential magazine for women who write.
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