If Heart Beat, the 1980 film about Jack Kerouac and Neal and Carolyn Cassady is to be believed, then all Kerouac needed to write ‘was a pencil’. I take his point, but in the light of the recent cold snap, I’ve been thinking there’s one other necessary ingredient.
Warmth.
Our budget here in house doesn’t extend to keeping the heating on all day. Not after the recent huge price rises. We’re not freezing; we do turn the radiators on at certain times. But there are other times when the flat is cold and I’ve noticed that as the warmth in my writing room fades – radiator on for an hour when I get up - so my mind becomes more and more sluggish.
And I write less and less.
I don’t know whether this is anyone else’s experience. (I once worked with a man who liked a cold office; it kept him awake and alert, he said.) I just wanted to put the thought out there.
Not just pencils.
5 comments:
Coming from the tropics I do enjoy cold weather but I do know that one does become slower when its cold!
Writing when cold is sinking into your body writing can be a hard slog indeed, and my mind slows to even lower than nothing. As an alternative, I'm a fan of indoor scarves and snoods (a soft knitted woollen cylinder) which keep the body temperature high enough for me to cope and work. Fingerless mitts can be a help too. I wouldn't cope as a writer in a Dickensian or Grubstreet garret for long. Hope you have plenty of jumpers, Nick!
Tried working from inside a sleeping bag when stuck in a heatless flat during building works. A fiasco. These battery-heated waistcoat and jackets a better solution. Some people swear by heated throws. Sending warm thoughts!
Yeah it's sometimes hard to find the sweet spot of temperature. I will confess to being the kind of person who has the windows open during the day even in winter, but that is generally not when I am home. I shut them as soon as I get back about 4.30 and turn the heating on (opening my bedroom window again at night). A low level background heat from radiators, assisted by warm clothing, extra socks, and hot drinks, seems to be the best way for me. I have however, just had a wood burner installed, so that will be helping me write over the coming months! (Edit: Sorry, previous comment had too many errors caused by the tiny text box on my phone display.)
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