8/31/10

Looking Over the Author's Shoulder

I find it very difficult to write with people in the room.

Maybe it stems from being over-protective of my literary babies. Very few people ever read them anyway, and I can't stand the thought of someone reading over my shoulder at only one scene. Especially since the scene I'm working on is always bound to be taken out of context, in the context of my family being the ones looking over my shoulder.

Maybe it's because I'm a phlegmatic who loves quiet, peace, and seclusion. The more people in the room, the more stressed I become. And it's impossible to focus on my writing when I'm stressed.

My brother is a sanguin (sanguins love people to the point of needing to be around people), and his "Love Language" is Quality Time. When you homeschool, this means that he's in my room playing guitar while I'm trying to write (with my music).

I try. I really do try to tolerate his presence and ignore him and go on with my writing. But it's difficult to write while I know he's right behind me, especially when I know that at any minute, I could turn my head and find him reading over my shoulder. (He's done that before.) Which means I'm on guard almost all the time, worried that I'm writing something like, oh, I don't know, a kissing scene or something.

Being on guard successfully stifles my creativity, which means that right now, he's in his room playing guitar, and I'm in my room blogging about my fraternal troubles and feeling really guilty.

So I present a question to you: Do you write alone? Is this circumstantial, or are you unable to focus any other way? Or can you write anywhere? Is it a noise thing, a fear of your shoulder being looked over, or something else entirely? Help me out!

Or am I just pathetically attuned to other people's presence and have an unexcusable need to be alone when I'm writing?

3 comments:

Creepy Query Girl said...

Yes, I write a lone and I hate it when my husband starts reading. I'll actually yell at him and position my laptop so that he can't see. I usually wait till he's not around to get most of my writing done though:)

Anonymous said...

Me too! I was homeschooled, too, and when I'm at home, my homeschooled siblings sometimes like to come into my room and see what I'm up to. So yes, I write alone. I can write other places, just as long as people are not peeping over my shoulder with curiosity.

Glad to see I'm not the only one!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I write alone, too. I don't like it when people are in the room and try to sneak a peek at what I'm writing mid-scene. If they want to read it, they should ask me first! I wouldn't mind handing them the first few chapters. I don't like giving away spoilers.

I try my best to concentrate in my room even though there are probably ten things going on around the house.

Write on and good luck finding that space that you need!